The Joys of Teaching
by Shotokan
Summary: Master Bo' Rai Cho retires and one of his best pupils, Liu Kang, decides to take on the challenge of teaching the new Wu Shi academy students the shaolin martial arts. Can he survive between untalented students and a pregnant wife? Completed!
1. Chapter 1: A rough start

The Joys of Teaching

**Okay, this is my first time shot at a humour story so I'm trying to make it funny though I don't know how well it'll turn out. I hope some of you will find some humour in this story. Well here goes! My second fan fiction I hope you enjoy!**

The sun shone brightly through the clear afternoon sky. Although there was a mild breeze, it was still quite hot outside. This however, did not stop the students and the monks from their daily training. Over near the front gates master Bo' Rai Cho, Liu Kang, and Kung Lao were saying their final goodbyes.

"Now are you sure you want to do this, Liu Kang? Teaching takes a lot of dedication and patience." Bo' Rai Cho said.

"Yes, master, I know. Don't worry, I'll be fine. I've always wanted to give teaching a try, and it's the perfect time now that you're retiring. And as for patience, putting up with Kitana and having a child on the way ought to be proof enough." Liu Kang said.

Bo' Rai Cho laughed heartedly. "Ha-ha! Indeed, you are quite right, Liu Kang. By the way, how is Kitana doing?"

"Oh she's doing fine. She's become aggravated more than ever now." He said thinking back. Kitana was nine months pregnant and in her final stage of pregnancy. He winced at the thought of the last time he accidentally upset Kitana by leaving the cap off the toothpaste. Not only did she spend fifteen minutes screaming at him, she showed him how to twist the cap on, which felt pretty degrading to him being talked to like a six year old, after she apologized.

"That's good to hear. Don't worry it's almost over." Bo' Rai Cho said putting a reassuring hand on Liu's shoulder.

"Yeah don't worry Liu; she'll be back to normal. She's a girl, she'll forgive you for your mistakes-eventually". Kung Lao said laughing at himself.

"Ha, you try having a pregnant wife while trying to do the right things. I'm afraid to do anything in case I get another lecture."

"Yeah but at least she apologizes, so it works out." Kung Lao said.

"Well I shall be on my way now. It saddens me to leave all my students but I must move on." Bo' Rai Cho said.

"You will be missed greatly master." Liu Kang said.

"Farewell!"

Bo' Rai Cho waved goodbye as Liu Kang, Kung Lao and the others bid a final farewell to their long time sensei.

"Well it's time to get started, don't you agree?" Liu Kang asked.

"Yes. I'll even help you out to make it easier." Kung Lao said.

"Thank you." Liu Kang said as they walked over to the training grounds.

At the training grounds the students had all gathered around and waited.

"So what are we waiting for anyway?" The student named Markus asked.

"A teacher I guess. Not that I'll need one." Kealen said.

"Ha! That's a good one! You couldn't even hit a target with a shuriken if it was five inches from your face! Ha-ha! Ugh!" Markus was immediately tackled to he ground by Kealen.

"You take that back! I'll show you!"

Kealen was kicked back hard on the ground. He got up painfully as he was knocked back again, bumping onto the student who bumped into another.

"Hey!" One of the students said pushing the poor student into someone else. Soon a fight broke out between the large groups. Students were fighting everywhere with the exception of one child who stood laughing at the humorous site before him.

"Ha-ha! Chaos! Chaos! Ha-ha! What fun! Let's see them break up this one!"

Liu Kang and Kung Lao almost reached the training grounds, unaware of the turmoil that stood before them.

"So do you think the new students will be co-operative?" Kung Lao asked.

"Yeah I think so. I mean, the others before them were well behaved, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Honestly, how bad can a bunch of twelve year olds be?" Liu Kang asked before he and Kung Lao entered the training grounds. They both gaped at fifteen of the students who were fighting.

"Apparently, the words discipline and refrain from violence don't apply here." Kung Lao said astonished.

"I don't believe this. I've never seen anything like this before."

"Yes but that was with Master Bo' Rai Cho. Look, there's a child laughing. What could be so funny?" Kung Lao asked.

"I don't know, but let's find out." Liu Kang said walking over to the boy who was now laughing hysterically. Kung Lao followed behind.

"Excuse me, what happened here?" Liu Kang asked.

"Isn't it great? It's total chaos! They're practically destroying the grounds!"

Kung Lao gasped as he ducked just as a small boulder soared over his head. He looked over to see a student holding a priceless sculpture and threw it at a student who ducked. He dove in time and caught it before it could hit the ground.

"That was too close." He said shaking his head.

"Are you from Earthrealm?" Liu Kang asked the young boy.

"No. I'm from the realm of Chaos!" The boy said continuing to laugh.

"Then what are you doing here?" Kung Lao asked.

"The same reason everyone else has; to become apart of this academy and learn to fight."

Liu Kang sighed. "Let's break them up." Liu Kang said pulling two students apart.

Kung Lao nodded and did the same. It wasn't easy. Some were clawing and biting while others were using objects as weapons. Twice Kung Lao had to catch three stone statues, pry more than five children apart at a time, take away two swords from students, and use his hat as a shield to protect himself from flying debris.

"Enough! Everybody stop!" Liu Kang yelled as loud as he could. Still students continued to fight until he shot a fire ball at the ground that caused a huge explosion and everyone, including Kung Lao, to freeze.

"ALRIGHT EVERYBODY SIT!" He bellowed.

The class obeyed, not wanting to anger the warrior further.

"Now, I don't care who started this fight. I don't want to see another one. So how many of you have been trained in martial arts?" Liu Kang asked.

Only five students put up their hands. "Ok. First we'll start off with the basics with the style of Shaolin Fist."

"Kung Lao, you take this half, and I'll take the other."

Kung Lao nodded. "Alright, this half watches me."

Both Kung Lao and Liu Kang got into a Shaolin Fist stance.

"Now you try." Kung Lao said.

The students tried to copy the two warriors. Some of them managed to get into the stance while others fell. Liu Kang and Kung Lao demonstrated some of the basic high attacks. It was a disaster. Some students tripped either on their own two feet or over others, while some accidentally hit each other.

Liu Kang looked at his students skeptically. "Unbelievable. I've seen such clumsy students. Okay, let's try a high spin kick."

Liu Kang and Kung Lao demonstrated and waited. The students tried and managed to complete it before falling. Next they demonstrated a pop-up attack. Kealen ended up hitting Markus behind the head.

"Ow! That's it!" He turned around and began chasing Kealen.

"It was an accident I swear! Forgive me!" Kealen pleaded.

"Not on your life!" Markus grabbed a stick in attempt to knock Kealen out. "I'll send you to the moon!"

Kung Lao looked at Liu Kang with a slight smile. "Day one."

Liu Kang gave him an annoyed look before chasing after the two.

"You'll never catch them. You have to do it like this!" Kung Lao threw his hat which flew in between the boys, slicing the stick in half. Markus stood in shock as Kung Lao's hat came back.

"Now that's teaching." Kung Lao said.


	2. Chapter 2: No place like home

**A/N: I apologize for the long needed update on another chapter. I've been a little busy, and will probably be more with work now that summers arrived. I will try to put some more smart-ass comments in the chapters to come and focus on more humour on the fighters rather than just teachings. Enjoy everyone!**

"Enough! Stop fighting or I'll have you kicked out! Now get back to your place." Liu Kang said.

Markus and Kealen immediately walked back frowning. Kung Lao stared grinning.

"Alright we made a little progress today, but let's made a little more tomorrow. You may all go home now." Liu Kang said.

The students walked out of the training grounds. Liu Kang gave a heavy sigh and sat down on a nearby bench. Kung Lao sat down next to him.

"What a day. Now that's what I call an endurance match." Kung Lao said with a grin.

"I've never seen students this out of control before." Liu Kang said.

"Well that's because master Bo' Rai Cho never HAD any students like this before. They were all well disciplined and behaved students. It looks like he retired just in time."

"Don't rub it in."

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to take this job, to take on a new challenge."

"Yeah but had I known it would be this bad, I would have stuck to training and saving the world."

"Well at least you get to go home to Kitana."

Liu Kang cringed at the thought. It wasn't her personality; it was her hormones that made her rather short-tempered at times, and he didn't make it easier on himself either.

"Oh, right. She's still a little cranky from pregnancy, isn't she?"

"Yeah, and she doesn't like it much either. She says she's sick of lugging all the weight around. She just wants the baby out."

"Well just relax. You'll need it for tomorrow."

"I'll let you know if I survive the night."

Liu Kang got up and waved goodbye to his friend and headed off home. Kitana insisted that he'd take a car or boat to make the journey faster but Liu Kang insisted he would walk to the academy. It gave him a good exercise and kept him fit. He arrived home an hour later. He stood in front of the door and sighed.

'Okay, I can do this. Just relax, and don't do anything.'

He took a deep breath, opened the door and stepped in smiling. He ducked as a pot flew through his hair.

"What on earth?" He said to himself cautiously walking to wards the kitchen. He gasped and ducked as a container lid went flying past him. He stood up, smiling at himself. His reflexes were as sharp as ever. He turned his head to face at the kitchen when a bowl hit him hard on the head. He yelled out in pain as he rubbed the newly formed bump on his head.

"Hone are you alright?" He entered the kitchen doorway and had to duck again as another pot came flying past him.

"Um," He said in a quite tone. "Do you need any help?"

Kitana let out a sigh. "Hello Liu. No, I just can't find the right pot to make dinner with."

"Well how about I make dinner for tonight?" He said putting his hands on her shoulders. "You just lie down and relax." He stood two steps apart in case she threw another pot.

"You cook?" She asked looking back with a skeptical look on her face.

"Ok, ok. So my first two tries at cooking roast weren't very successful."

"Successful? You burned it twice! We might as well buy it from a pre-made box!"

"Remind me not to even breathe…" Liu Kang said under his breath.

"What was that?" Kitana shot him an evil glance.

Liu Kang gulped as his eyes widened in fear. "Uh, nothing hon." He said looking around nervously. "Look," He said grabbing a book from the bookshelf. "Just lie down and relax, and let me handle dinner, ok?"

"Fine but if I hear one more smoke detector go off, you're sleeping outside in a tent. I'm serious, Liu. I've got a headache so let's keep this down to a minimal ok?"

"Yes, dear." Liu Kang said.

As Kitana left the kitchen to read Liu let out a sigh of relief and played the song scolding wife on the CD player. She wasn't kidding. He looked up remembering the first time the smoke detector went off. Not only did she have a headache, she was also in a bad mood. He slept on the couch that night, too afraid to even sleep near her after that incident.

Luckily all that passed by the morning.

'It could have been worse.' He thought to himself. It was hell being with her in the same house let alone room through her first trimester.

'Thank god she switched from hitting me with her fans to her fists.' He though. He couldn't imagine how his wife could be so disciplined and suddenly in a furious rage.

"Okay let's do this right this time." He shakily began preparing the roast.

Later that evening…

"So what kind of students were you teaching again?"

"First years, but they're nothing like the one's before. They're clumsy, and lack discipline."

Kitana chuckled. "Liu, they're first years. They can't possibly be that bad.

"Oh really," Liu said raising an eyebrow. "Well why don't you see for yourself?"

"Fine, I will." Kitana said with a smirk. "And make sure you put the cap back on the toothpaste. God forbid should I find it isn't."

"I know, I know." He said putting his hands up in defense. He shook his head and climbed into bed.

"So is it just you teaching them?"

Liu looked down. "No. Kung Lao is helping me."

Kitana raised her eyebrow. "Why did you force him to help you?"

"Of course I didn't!" Liu said proudly. "He volunteered to help me himself."

Kitana kissed him on the cheek. "By the way, dinner was great."

"Thanks he said slightly blushing. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Liu Kang awoke the next morning at six o'clock. He looked over at Kitana sleeping. She would probably arrive later on. He got up and began to get ready.

Wu Shi Academy

Kung Lao was up and ready. He walked to the training grounds to surprisingly find the students ready for training. He stared at them dumbfounded.

"Well this is a nice change." He said to himself. "Ok everyone, go over towards the staffs and grab one."

The students obeyed. He turned around to see Liu Kang walking towards him.

"Good morning." He said.

"Morning, Liu. Are you ready for another day?"

"I sure am."

"So how'd everything go last night?"

"It went well for once. I didn't burn the roast. Oh, by the way, Kitana's coming later on. She doesn't believe this bunch can be so difficult."

Kung Lao laughed. "Well she's in for a rude awakening, isn't she?"

"Yeah well let's get started."

They worked on techniques with little difficulty except for some whacking themselves and others. By late afternoon Liu Kang and Kung Lao decided to teach them energy attacks, which they would fine out to be a mistake.


	3. Chapter 3: Unfortunate mishaps

Two roofs caught on fire, 3 stone statues needed to be replaced, along with a wall that now served as a short cut towards the temple, and one student that accidentally scorched a monk's shoulder.

Liu Kang looked down with a heavy sigh. 'Oh well, there's always hope for next year.' He thought to himself.

Suddenly the thunder god Raiden appeared before him. Liu Kang looked up startled as he took a few steps back.

"Lord Raiden? What brings your presence here?" He asked.

"There is word that Bo' Rai Cho has retired and that you have taken upon the role as the new teacher so I thought I'd come down here and see how bad things are."

"Yes that's true. Kung Lao is also helping. In fact, I'm glad you came. We could really use your help."

"Liu Kang, I was joking. What could you possible my help with?"

"For starters, how about bending these kids into shape?" Kung Lao said walking up to the thunder god.

"You can't be serious. They are just mortal children. What's so hard about that?"

"See for yourself." Liu Kang said.

"Alright, I'll show you how to teach young mortals."

"This should be good." Kung Lao said.

The two monks watched as Raiden attempted to teach the class. All eyes were upon the thunder god.

"Now hear me. I want your full attention so pay close attention as I'm only going to repeat this once. Now I--" Raiden looked over to see a young boy throwing a small ball into the air and catching it. He outstretched his hand as a ball of lightning hit the ball. It exploded in a cloud of smoke.

"Now, as I was saying, I expect you to behave yourselves and respect and your peers. I will not tolerate--" He was cut off once again by a small ball that hit him on the side of the head.

Lightning surrounded him as his temper rose. "Look, I will not tolerate impudence! You will obey, and you will listen to what I have to say!"

The group stared in shock as the god's immense power. Raiden was about to continue when a shoe hit him this time. Lightning flashed in his eyes as he turned his head to his left.

"Alright, that does it!"

He noticed Kealen snickering behind a pillar. "Please excuse me." He appeared behind the pillar. Screams could be heard form a young boy and a man. Raiden walked out in front holding Kealen up by his belt, tied up by a rope, his hair ruffled from the struggle. He placed the boy on his feet and shrugged at Liu Kang.

"What can I say? They're a hopeless bunch. If you want my advice, bring a gun."

"Are there any non violent ways?" Liu Kang asked.

"I'm afraid not. This group is even a little too much for the god of thunder to handle."

"Some thunder god." Kung Lao said under his breath.

"Look, I said I could teach mortals, not delinquents." Raiden said.

"So what do we do now?" Liu Kang asked.

"Well, if you ask me, I say we drop them off in the Netherrealm and say they're on vacation." Raiden suggested.

"Raiden, we can't do that! You of all people know that!" Liu Kang said.

"Yeah, but think about it; A little trip in the Netherrealm ought to teach them a thing or two. Besides, I'm sure they'll have no problems entering."

Kung Lao couldn't help but chuckle at the thunder god's idea. "You have to admit, Liu, it is a good idea. A little far fetched, but a good idea none the less."

"What's a good idea, Liu?" Kitana said walking towards the three men.

"Hey. Good to see you're here. Well Raiden was suggesting I send the students to the Netherrealm."

"That's a little far fetched isn't it?" Kitana asked.

"That's what I said princess." Kung Lao said.

"Kung Lao, how many times must I ask you to call me by my name?"

"Hmm let's see…about one hundred times more, princess." Kung Lao laughed. He knew it wasn't safe to annoy her at this stage but he couldn't help himself.

Liu looked at him surprised. "Are you nuts? Do you really want to annoy her at this point? Remember, I'm the one who has to come home to her."

"Don't worry friend, I won't annoy her too much." He said patting Liu on the back.

"Great." He mumbled.

"So let's see these kids." Kitana said.

Liu brought her over to the students. "I should fail all of them."

"Isn't that a little unethical? They don't look so bad."

"You haven't seen anything yet." Raiden said. "Look." He pointed over to a far corner where a group of boys were sparring, and at the same time destroying the grounds.

"And you three are unable to handle a group of children?"

"It's harder than you know, Kitana. In fact, that's exactly what I said when I saw them." Raiden said.

"And what happened?" Kitana asked.

Raiden pointed to the young boy still tied upon the ground.

"You tied him up! Why?" Kitana asked in a slight rage.

"Calm down honey. Why don't you let Raiden while I untie him?" Liu Kang suggested.

"You better have a good excuse for this, thunder god." Kitana said.

"Oh I do." Raiden said.

While Raiden explained to Kitana the recent events, Liu Kang walked up to Kealen.

"Are you going to behave?" He asked.

Kealen looked away. "Yeah I guess."

"Good. Then I'll untie you." Liu removed the constricting rope from Kealen. The young boy got up and stretched and walked away.

"Well I guess he deserved it." Kitana said.

"He suggested I bring a gun." Liu Kang said looking over his shoulder.

"Raiden's right. Bring the gun." Kitana said.

"That's very funny." Liu Kang said sarcastically.

"Oh, by the way, I've invited our friends and Bo' Rai Cho over for dinner next week."

"Ok. Is there any special occasion? I haven't forgotten your birthday have I?" Liu Kang said his face beginning to turn white.

"No not yet. I just thought it would be nice to catch up on old times."

"Oh, right, of course." Liu Kang said with a relief in his voice.

"That is if you can survive until next week." Kitana said.

"She's right. You've got the classroom from hell." Raiden said.

"Yeah, it's just my luck. Come on, Kung Lao. Let's get this day over with."

Kung Lao followed him.

"I'll see you at home, Liu." Kitana said leaving.

"Yeah I think I'll be going too." Raiden said.

"What's your excuse for leaving?" Liu Kang asked.

"Well, I'm a thunder god. I've got things to do. Besides, this will look much more amusing from above." Raiden said.

"You're the protector of Earthrealm. I thought you were supposed to help us?" Kung Lao asked.

"I am, but I've got to have fun every once in awhile."

With that, Raiden left with a flash of lightning. Kung Lao looked at Liu Kang who only shrugged.

Next Week…

Liu Kang had finally gotten dressed and began setting the dinner table. Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, her partner Major Jaxon Briggs, Master Bo' Rai Cho, Kung Lao and his girlfriend would all be coming. It had been some time since any of them had really had the time to site down and chat, and tonight was the perfect time to do just that. When he had finished, he went into the kitchen to find his wife in a beautiful black dress that fit her perfectly. He was quite taken aback by her appearance. He smiled at her.

Kitana turned around. "What?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing. You look great."

She smiled. "Thank you. You look pretty handsome yourself."

"Yeah but you look better." Liu said wrapping his arms around her.

"Is there something you want?" She asked moving close to him.

"Well I was going to ask if you needed help, but it looks like you're doing fine on your own."

"Didn't you learn your lesson from the scolding I gave you the first time you asked?"

"Apparently I didn't."

"Must I tell you again?"

Liu Kang smiled. "No need. It's still etched in my mind along with the fear." He began to quote her exact words. "How many times must I tell you? If I want help I'll ask! I swear, ask again and you're going to become the main course."

Kitana laughed. "Well it looks like you have a better memory than I thought."

Liu Kang leaned in and shared a long kiss before the door bell rang.


	4. Chapter 4: Dinner and a show

They parted immediately. Liu looked over at the clock. It read seven o'clock.

He walked over and opened the door to see Master Bo' Rai Cho, Kung Lao and his girlfriend. He smiled as they smiled back. He stepped aside so they could enter.

"Where's everyone else?" Liu Kang asked.

"They're coming, don't worry." Bo' Rai Cho said.

"They should be here any moment. They weren't far behind us when we left." Kung Lao said.

"You guys all came together in a group?" Liu Kang asked.

"Sonya suggested we all meet up and at her and Johnny's house and drive here."

Liu laughed. "Of course Sonya suggested it. She's always been the one to take charge in our group."

Kung Lao laughed. "Yeah, that's true."

They all walked into the living room where Kitana joined them from the kitchen.

"Hello guys." She said.

She hugged them both. She looked at Kung Lao's girlfriend. "And who's this?"

"This is Rebecca. Rebecca, this is Liu Kang and his wife princess Kitana."

"It's nice to meet you." Kitana said shaking her hand.

"It's nice to meet you too." Rebecca said as she shook Liu's hand and Kitana's hand.

"Yes, Rebecca is Kung Lao's girlfriend." Bo' Rai Cho said laughing heartedly.

"Master, please!" Kung Lao said.

Kitana tried hard to chuckle at the monk's embarrassment. Liu Kang only shook his head. Bo' Rai Cho never hesitated to put anyone on the spot. He found it funny while it was a total embarrassment to his victims. A knock on the door diverted everyone from Kung Lao whose face was beginning to turn red.

"That must be them now." Liu Kang said walking up to the door. He was right.

He opened the door to find Sonya, Jax, and Johnny standing at the doorstep.

"Come on in. The others are already here."

"Good 'cause I'm starving." Jax said.

All warriors were now gathered in the living room, each catching up with one another on old times and their present state. Kitana was so caught up in a conversation with Sonya that she barely noticed the timer on the oven go off. She got up but Liu immediately gently pushed her down. She looked up at him confused.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'll serve dinner, you just get everyone seated." He said.

Kitana didn't argue as her husband went into the kitchen.

"That was nice. I wish a certain individual would do that for me." Sonya said looking at Johnny.

Johnny Cage looked at her blankly. "What?"

"Don't give me that, Johnny, you know what." Sonya said.

"Oh, come on. He's only doing that so Kitana won't be in a foul mood." Johnny said.

"And what about the other times he offered to help?"

"Yeah well…he's just being courteous! Trust me, mend don't normally do these kinds of things."

"I'm sure they don't." Sonya said disapprovingly.

"Why don't we all sit down at the table?" Kitana said getting up trying to prevent world war three in her house. Last time it took both Raiden and Jax to prevent it the last time they had a fight. Liu had managed to put out al of the food by the time everyone got seated.

"This is really good." Rebecca said taking a bite. "Who made all of this?"

"Kitana did." Liu Kang said.

"You did?" Rebecca said looking at her. "This must have taken you all day to make. Didn't Liu help you?"

"She wouldn't let me." Liu Kang said.

"It's true. I like challenges and wanted to take this one on myself. Besides, I'm a better cook than he is." Kitana said.

"Hey I'm getting better."

"Yes that's true. He doesn't burn food as much anymore."

"So how is teaching going Liu Kang?" Bo' Rai Cho asked.

Kitana and Kung Lao looked at him worriedly.

"It's going ok. The kids could be better skilled and behaved. I'm having quite a hard time controlling them."

"Ho-ho you just need to discipline, that's all! That's all it took with the group you were in."

"But these kids are…different." Kung Lao said.

"Raiden had to give us a hand." Liu Kang said.

"That sounds funny indeed! Well it'll get easier. You're close to the end of the term aren't you?" Bo' Rai' Cho said.

"Yes." He said. 'Thank god.' He thought.

"What about you Jax and Sonya? How's the OIA going?" Kitana asked.

"It's going really well actually. We've managed to reduce crime in Outworld and Earthrealm." Sonya said.

"Yeah but it's also caused us to make a few more enemies." Jax said.

"That's understandable. What about you, Johnny?" Kitana asked.

Johnny sat up proudly. "Well I'm releasing a new movie that I'm acting in and directing in a few weeks." Sonya rolled her eyes but Johnny ignored her and carried on. "It's a little documentary about making it in Hollywood. It's called 'The Life and Times of a Hollywood Actor'."

"I think it sounds interesting." Rebecca said.

"You don't know half of it. Try living with one everyday. Sometimes I think eh can't tell the difference between a movie and real life."

"Well if it's being released in a few weeks, I just might watch it." Rebecca said.

"You really don't know who I am, do you?" Johnny asked.

"No I don't sorry. I don't really look into actors. I like a few here and there, that's it." Rebecca said.

A slight frown came across Johnny's face.

"Well know you can say you know a big time actor." Kung Lao said.

The frown on Johnny's face changed to a slight grin. Kung Lao's compliment brightened his mood a little.

"So Kung Lao, how did you and Rebecca meet?" Johnny asked.

"Johnny!" Sonya said.

"What? I'm curious." Johnny said.

"It's alright, Sonya." Rebecca said.

Sonya still glared at Johnny who was beginning to sink into his chair.

It's a rather strange really." She began. "The sun had just begun to set when I was walking home from the grocery store when suddenly the two ugliest creatures I've ever seen came out from the trees. They had two blades that came from their arms and teeth like daggers. What did you say they were Kung Lao?"

"They're called tarkatans. They're grotesque and vile creatures."

"That's right. Anyway, they were talking about how they would devour me then one of them lunged at me. I was so frightened that I dropped my grocery bags. I thought I was a goner when suddenly this hat with a sharp blade on the rim flew across like a disk and decapitates the tarkatan and flew back into the shadows like a boomerang. That's when Kung Lao emerged." Rebecca said smiling. Kung Lao smiled back at the memory.

Kitana herself was smiling. Their story was similar to how she and Liu met during the first mortalkombat tournament. She helped him defeat Shang Tsung. She held Liu's hand under the table. Everyone's dinner was starting to become cold but no one took notice. They were too interested in Rebecca's story to eat.

Rebecca carried on. "He told the tarkatan that if he valued his life that he would to back to Outworld. The demon attacked him but Kung Lao performed what he calls a windmill kick and knocked him to the ground. I was so shocked I couldn't say anything. That's when Kung Lao introduced himself and told me I was safe. By the way, what were you doing in the forest?" She asked Kung Lao.

"I was taking a walk to clear my mind when I heard a woman's scream so I ran towards it and found her approached by the two demons." Kung Lao said.

"Well he was kind enough to help me pick up my groceries and walk me home. Apparently he wanted to make sure I made it home safely. And the rest they say is history." She said smiling.

"Ha-Ha! Just like Kung Lao not to hesitate to help someone in need!" Bo' Rai Cho said laughing.

Kung Lao blushed slightly. Everyone began eating their meals in silence.

"So how come you never told us about her?" Johnny asked.

"Well I wanted to get to know her a little better before introducing her to you guys. After all, you're not exactly an easy bunch to get to know." Kung Lao said.

"Well that I can understand but man, you could have told us about her." Jax said.

"That doesn't really matter. What matters is this: how long have you guys been dating?" Johnny asked.

"Johnny stop being rude!" Sonya said.

Johnny ignored her remark. "So?"

"About eight weeks." Kung Lao said.

"And stop ignoring me John Carlton!" Sonya said.

Johnny was silent for a moment. She rarely called him by his real name, except when she was really getting upset, much like a parent calling their child y their full name. "I'm not ignoring you. I'm just dodging you, that's all."

"Dodging me? What's that supposed to mean?" Sonya asked.

"Well it means that I'm choosing not to start up an argument." He said.

"That's the same thing as ignoring!"

"No it's not!

"Yes it is!"

"It's just called dodging ok?" Johnny said.

"Ok Mr. big time actor, why not try dodging this?" Sonya scooped up a spoonful of mashed potatoes and flung it at Johnny who ducked in time to miss the solid white mass. Raiden who suddenly appeared wasn't so lucky.


	5. Chapter 5: Panic point

"Sorry to interrupt your dinner, but I was wondering--" He stopped as the mash potatoes hit him on the cheek. He slowly wiped it from his face and looked at it.

Everyone stared in shock as they awaited the thunder god's reaction. Bo' Rai Cho began go laugh at Raiden's mishap when he was hit with a piece of mashed potato in the face. Everyone diverted their gaze from him to Raiden who held an outstretched hand with a smile on his face.

"Sonya, why did you do that?" Kitana asked.

"Because Johnny would have deserved that had he not ducked, although that was slightly immature of me." Sonya said.

"Clearly it was." Johnny said.

"Shut up! You're still getting yours!" She said flinging more mashed potatoes into Johnny's face.

"Hey!" Johnny said flinging some back at Sonya.

"Food fight!" Jax yelled flinging some food himself from his fork. Soon everyone erupted into a massive food fight. It was everywhere. On clothes, hair, on the walls, on the table, on the chairs, some on the kitchen floor and some even managed to get in Kung Lao's hat which was placed beside his chair. Screams of laughter could be heard from outside the house as food flew across the table. The fight lasted for 30 minutes due to lack of food to throw.

"Good thing we ate before we threw the food, huh?" Jax said.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

"Unfortunately we've got to clean this mess up." Kitana said.

Raiden began to slip out when Kitana caught him.

"And just where do you think you're going?" She asked.

"Why I thought I'd slip out unnoticed." Raiden said innocently.

"Uh-uh. I don't think so. You're helping, thunder god."

Raiden frowned. "But I'm not the one who started it, remember?" He said pointing to the white pieces on his cheek.

"True but you helped cause the mess." Kitana said.

"Of course I'll help. But after some water." He said chuckling.

He walked forward but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see a fire raging in Kitana's eyes. Raiden could not help but stare wide eyed.

"Well this is a side of you I've never seen before. Maybe Liu Kang has, but not me."

"Raiden, please…" She said.

"Oh ok. I'm cleaning, see?" He said starting to scoop dried mashed potatoes from the wall onto a plate.

"So why did you come here Raiden?" Johnny asked.

"Well I wanted to see what you mortals were up to." Raiden said.

Johnny just stared at him. "That can't be all if you came here just for that."

"Ok, Ok. I was bored. What? What's a thunder god to do when you guys aren't defending the world?"

"Make fun of us?" Johnny asked.

Raiden laughed. "Well that too."

It took an hour to fully clean the house but it was well worth the effort for the mess they caused. Everyone left at eleven thirty pm. Liu had just climbed into bed totally exhausted.

"Whew. I'm beat." He said.

"So am I." Kitana said.

"What a crazy day. It was fun though."

"Yes, and just think it's only the beginning." Kitana said.

"Oh yeah…wow, what did I get myself into?" Liu said scratching his head.

"A whole mess of trouble, but there are rewards down the road."

"Rewards, like what?" He asked.

"Well this is one of them." Kitana said kissing him.

He wasn't really into the mood but he didn't argue. Even though it was the weekend, they would wake up tired in the morning, but they didn't care. It was worth it, despite how late it was. It was well wroth it indeed.

Three weeks later…

It was another ordinary day at the training academy. Well almost. Liu Kang's students were actually progressing, much to the delight of him and the monks. They were just happy to be able to use their water for drinking instead of extinguishing flames. Liu Kang and Kung Lao were in the middle of a lesion when a monk ran up to them looking very frantic and out of breath.

"Liu Kang." He said. "I must speak with you. It's urgent."

"Oh?" Liu Kang walked with him off to the side.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"What is it?"

"It's Kitana. Her water broke several hours ago but we just received the message when now when Raiden came. She's in the hospital now. Apparently her labor is progressing quickly."

Liu Kang's eyes widened with fear. "Where's Raiden?"

"He's in the temple."

Liu Kang started to run off but Kung Lao stopped him.

"Liu Kang, what's wrong?"

"Kitana's water broke and I've got to get to the hospital now!"

Ok I'll take over and delay the graduation program. I'll put it two weeks later."

"Thanks I owe you one." Liu Kang said running off to find Raiden.

The monk walked beside Kung Lao. "This is truly blessed day." He said.

"Not for Liu Kang it isn't." Kung Lao said walking back to the class. He left the monk standing dumbfounded.

Liu Kang proceeded to run through the halls at full speed. He was going so far that he almost missed Raiden, and a few monks. He stopped tripping over a pot of in inscents.

"Ow! Darn it!" He said picking up the inscents.

"Raiden, I need to talk to you!" He said frantically in totally panic. He could feel his heart pounding against his chest with every beat.

Raiden turned around and put up his hand. "I know. There's not time to waste. We must hurry. Kitana's is getting upset with every passing second." He said.

He took himself Liu Kang to the hospital. They appeared in the middle of the hall. Liu Kang dashed over to the front desk.

"Witch room is Kitana in?" He asked.

"Kitana let me see." She said searching through the records. "Ah yes, here she is. She's in room 302, on the third floor."

The shaolin monk immediately ran to the elevator when he noticed the sign that read "out of order". He cursed to himself as he ran around until he found the stairs leading up. He ran as fast as his legs would carry him, pushing past the people along the way. He was grateful that his years of training paid off. He finally reached the third floor out of breath and out of energy. He stood at the doorway and bent over panting.

"Whe…where's room 302?" He asked to a passing nurse while trying to catch his breath.

"That's the fifth door on your right. Are you alright?" She asked.

"Yeah I'm fine. I've got years of training behind me." He said dashing off.

He could hear muffled screams. He knew he was close. He made it to the front door to see Kitana in the room with Sonya. He walked in and leaned against the wall so he wouldn't collapse.

"Where the hell have you been?" Sonya said.

"Sorry. I got here as fast as I could." Liu said out of breath.

"Well good. Then you can give her support. I'm going out for some fresh air." Sonya said leaving.

Liu walked up and stood beside Kitana.

"Hey, how are you doing?" He asked.

She immediately grabbed his shirt and pulled him down.

"It's about time." She said grinning. "Well I've been better."

"I can tell." He said chocking. "Hey Hun, can I have my shirt back?"

"Sorry." She said releasing him.

He gasped for breath as he held his neck. "Show how long have you been in here?"

"Three hours. What took you so long to get here anyway?"

"Sorry. Apparently Raiden himself just found out and came as soon as he could."

"Well at least you came. I had to call Sonya because I couldn't reach you."

"Sorry. Had I known sooner, I would have driven you myself. Besides, if I hadn't made it, you would have killed me."

"You got that right. By the way, why do your pants have an oil stain on them?"

"Oh. Well I was in such a rush to find Raiden that I smashed my shin on a pot filled with inscents. I guess it must have some oil in it. I hadn't noticed."

"Ouch. Would you do me a favour? Get a doctor in here."

"Sure." He walked out just as a doctor was entering.

"Sorry. Oh good. Kitana just sent me to find one of you guys."

"You must be the husband." The doctor said.

"Yes."

"Wasn't there a blonde haired woman here earlier?"

"Yes but she's left for a bit. She was filing in for me while I raced over here."

"I see. Well I'm Dr.Kojak."


	6. Chapter 6: Birthday party

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I went camping for a week. This chapter will have several time skips in it. Basically from infantry, to about 7 years of age just to shorten up this story a bit. I hope you're still enjoying this story.**

Liu Kang shook his hand and let him through. He could tell by the look on Kitana's face that she was thankful that a doctor finally arrived. After all, he knew the fate that awaited him had he returned without one.

"Hmm almost there. You're dilated four centimeters, only six more to go." The doctor said laughing. He stopped immediately when he saw Kitana glaring at him. "I'll return in an hour and see how far you've come." He said leaving.

Kitana gave a heavy sigh as she laid her head back in pain. "Liu, I don't want to a c section. I want to do this naturally, and I won't let anything stop that."

"I know." He said kissing her forehead. "I'm sure you'll get your wish. After all, you'll move heaven and earth to make it happen. For now all we can do is wait…and pray."

Several hours alter Kitana had dilated ten centimeters and had given birth to a healthy baby girl. Kitana, who had her husband in a head lock the entire process finally let go of him when the doctor advised her that if she wanted a husband by the end of the day to let go. She did as he fell on his knees gasping for breath and smiling his daughter as she was handed into her mother's arms. Of course, no one could blame Kitana for having such a tight grip on Liu. She was frustrated from the pain and the doctors that kept offering her anesthetics until she finally threw the medicine that was laid on a tray at them.

_**One year later…**_

It had been a year since Liu Kang and Kitana's daughter, Liana, had been born. Liu himself had become a successful teacher and managed to pass all of his students, which made him and Kung Lao the happiest monks in the world. Not only that, he had survived nine months dealing with his pregnant wife.

Everyone (including Bo' Rai' Cho) had once again gathered together, except this time it was for Liana's first birthday. And this time they invited Raiden along and promised no food fights, and Kitana made Sonya promise not throw food at Johnny, butt rather books. It was a beautiful day so they had decided to eat outside. Liu tried to get Liana to eat but she wouldn't budge.

"Come on, Liana, you've got to eat your food. Now open wide for daddy and eat." He tried again to get the child to eat her dinner but she tightened her lips and turned her head away.

Raiden laughed at this child's antics. Liu Kang turned his head.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"I guess she's not daddy's little girl, is she?" Raiden asked.

"Oh and I suppose you could get her to eat? Thinks he would obey the god of thunder?"

"Naturally she would." Raiden said walking up. He took the spoon and knelt down. "I have a natural way with children."

Liu crossed his arms and looked on skeptically.

"Ok sweetie, open wide for Raiden."

Liana wouldn't budge. "Open please." He said. She did nothing. He lowered his eyes. "Open." Liana only shook her head.

"I'm warning you to open your mouth or I will shovel it in."

Liana's mouth dropped at his tone. With fast reflexes Raiden quickly shoved the spoon into the child's mouth.

"There. You see? That wasn't so hard, now was it?" Raiden said satisfied looking at Liu.

Liu Kang only shook his head. Raiden turned back to face the young girl as she spat the food back in his face. Liu burst out laughing.

"Oh yeah, you've got some way with children."

Sonya, who had been watching the three of them the entire time sighed and walked over. "This calls for a woman."

"I'd like to see you try." Raiden said handing her the spoon.

"Gladly; now watch and learn boys." She said gently holding the Childs head back while putting the food in her mouth.

Liana chewed with satisfaction as Sonya smiled. Much to Liu and Raiden's surprise, she didn't spit it out.

"Like my mother used to say, when you want something done go ask a woman." She left Raiden and Liu Kang standing there, both feeling slightly degraded while Liana laughed and clapped her hands happily as if to agree with her.

"It would seem my own daughter's against me." Liu Kang said.

Raiden cautiously looked around. "She's a girl, what do you expect?"

Liu Kang managed to find a way to get Liana to eat without too much of a struggle before everyone sang the birthday song. Kitana helped Liana blow out the single candle that stood in the middle and was given a piece which she made a mess of all over her face. Liu Kang had spent ten minutes of washing her face (which took so long because she kept trying to eat it), and put her to bed. Everyone decided to have cake first so Liana wouldn't be late going to bed.

"So, Liu, did you two ever manage to pass those mortals?" Raiden asked.

"Yeah, thank god. And here I thought I had to deal wit them twice."

"Well technically you could, if you were still teaching by the time they had their own kids." Johnny said.

Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Raiden and Kitana all flinched. For them, that would be the worst luck of all.

"I don't want to think about that. It's too far to see. I'm just going to enjoy seeing someone else deal with them. They pushed me to limits I never thought I had." Liu Kang said.

"Me too, and I thought our training would have prepared us." Kung Lao said.

"Nothing in this world could have prepared you two for that group." Raiden said.

Everyone laughed at Raiden's remark. Although Liu Kang, Kitana and Raiden were the only ones to see the group in action, the way they describe it to their friends gave them a good idea of what it was like.

"So, Johnny, I hear your movie did really well at the box office." Rebecca said

"It did better than that! It was ranked the number one movie of the year!" He said smiling.

"I know." Rebecca said.

"You do?" Johnny said.

"Well that's what it said on the movie when I bought it. A five out of five star rating it said."

"Well I'm glad you enjoyed it!"

"Are you kidding? She loves it. Every time I come over to her house she's watching it! She must have seen it a hundred times by now." Kung Lao said.

Rebecca blushed slightly as Johnny's smile broadened.

"Oh great, that's the last thing you need, a boosted ego." Sonya said shaking her head. "He's going to go on about this for weeks."

"Hey she obviously knows a good movie when she sees it." Johnny said proudly.

"So, Liu Kang, how are things going with Liana?" Bo Rai' Cho asked.

"Things are going well, but the all nights left me exhausted." He said.

"I would imagine so. It must have been really tough for the first few weeks." Rebecca said.

"Yeah it was. Kung Lao had to wake me up a few times at the Wu Shi academy." Liu Kang said.

"Try ever other day." Kung Lao said.

"Well what do you expect? I spent half of he night changing her diaper, and the other half trying to get it on for awhile until Kitana came down to help. Thank god she's out of them now."

"Never send a man to do a woman's job." Kitana said.

Liu Kang rolled his eyes and began spooning food onto his plate. Everyone began to do the same as they passed the food around the table.

"Johnny, I heard that you and Sonya were planning on taking a vacation soon. Have you decided where?" Rebecca asked.

"Well I wanted to go to Hawaii, but she wanted to go to a place where we wouldn't be noticed, so we decided on Mexico. We figure it's the best odds we have." Johnny said.

The night carried on with conversations and joys of laughter, which was mostly from Raiden making fun of his mortals again. It wasn't until Johnny turned to look at the clock in the kitchen that he noticed how late it was: 2am. His eyes widened in shock.

"Uh guys, I don't mean to break up the party but its two o'clock in the morning." He said.

Silence fell over the group as they stared at Johnny.

"Are you serious?" Kitana asked.

"Yeah we should get going."

"I'll second that." Rebecca said getting up. "What about the dishes?"

"They can wait till morning." Liu Kang said.

Everyone gave a hand in loading the dishes in the sink. When Kitana and Liu had waved goodbye to their friends Kitana looked back into the kitchen.

"You know, Liu, we really should buy a dishwasher someday." Kitana said.

"One day we will." Liu Kang said walking over and switched the light off and accompanied his wife to bed.


	7. Chapter 7: Chaos in the supermarket

**A/N: This chapter and several other chapters in the story will have a bit of a time skip in between to speed things up a bit with age. **

_6 years later…_

Liana ran into her parent's room and jumped on the bed and landed on her fathers legs. Liu Kang gasped in pain as her knee dug into his legs. Kitana sat bolt upright when she heard her husband. She looked down to see her daughter smiling at her. She smiled back as she took her daughter into her arms.

"Now what do you're doing jumping on the bed like that? You nearly crushed your father's legs."

"Sorry daddy." Liana said.

Liu Kang waved a hand at her. "It's alright but please don't do it again."

"Ok." She said pushing herself off the bed from Liu's legs once more. He grunted in pain as he rubbed his sore legs.

"Oh! Why me? What about you?" He said.

"Because it's better to hit you, that's why." Kitana said.

"Sure." Liu Kang said getting out of bed.

He gazed over at the clock. 9 Am. If he was about his daughter's age, waking up early wouldn't be a problem. But now it seemed impossible. With each year he grew older, he found he felt it harder to wake up early. Besides, he wasn't a morning person. He opened his drawers and found clothes to wear and changed out of his pajamas before going downstairs. He could smell the aroma of bacon and eggs that trailed up the stairs as he descended down into the kitchen to the familiar sizzle from the pan.

"I'm glad to see you finally made it downstairs." Kitana said.

"Very funny, ha-ha." He said laughing sarcastically. "You know I'm not a morning person." He said.

"Well that's a shame because our daughter is."

"Yeah, just like her mother. Has she any talents from me?"

"Maybe, if you're lucky." She said chuckling.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"I'm enjoying every second."

"Do you think she'll have an interest in martial arts?" He said picking up the paper.

"Maybe, who knows? If she ever does, she just might be as great as her father, maybe even greater."

"You're good too you know."

"I know. I kicked your butt in the ninth mortal kombat tournament."

"I can still feel the pain from landing on my butt."

"Good. That means you won't forget."

"How could I forget? That's where I first met you." He said as he got up to hold her.

"You know as much as I'm enjoying this, the eggs and bacon need to be kept warm, and I just turned the stove off."

"Liu Kang blasted a very small fire ball into the two pots. The sizzling got louder.

"You know one of these days you're going to burn the house down if you keep doing that. Plus, you're gong to burn the breakfast."

"If I burn the house to the ground you can scold me for the rest of my life. As for the breakfast, it'll be fine. Besides, we're missing two ingredients."

"And what would those two be?"

"We're missing milk and toast to make the breakfast complete."

"Which reminds me; I need you two to take Liana with you to the store so you two can pick up some more milk and toast. We're almost out."

"Liana doesn't need to come."

"She will if I'm to take a nap. I was up half the night dealing with a nightmare if you can recall."

"That's right. Alright, but I don't want to be chasing her through the super market."

"You won't if you keep an eye on her."

"Easy for you to say, you know how she thinks."

As Kitana put the bacon and eggs on a plate, Liu Kang began making the toast. He had just grabbed the toast from the toaster when Kitana handed him the shopping list.

"What's this for?" He asked.

"Well we need more than one loaf of toast and jugs of milk just in case you forget."

He folded the piece of paper in his pocket and began buttering the toast.

"Liana come down for breakfast!" Kitana called.

Loud stomps could be heard as Liana came barreling down the stairs. Liu poured everyone a glass of milk.

"I'll leave for the store at one." Liu Kang said.

"Where's daddy gong?" Liana asked.

"You and your father are going to the super market to pick up a few things." Kitana replied.

Liana tried to smile with food in her mouth. Liu Kang raised an eyebrow. He couldn't see how grocery shopping was fun. Although he did it many times before he never enjoyed it. The reason being because he could never find what he was looking for. Kitana once sent him to the supermarket to pick up a can of crushed pineapple pieces that took him thirty minutes to find before asking for assistance in which the lady pointed to the can of crushed pineapple pieces behind him. It was a few weeks before she sent him back to the super market.

Liana quickly ate her breakfast and ran upstairs to her to her room to get changed.

"Well she's sure in a hurry to get going." Liu Kang said.

"Well she likes going places with you."

"She does?" He said.

"Yes she does. She thinks you walk on water."

Liu Kang smiled at the compliment. "She never told me that before."

"Maybe she's too nervous to tell you right now. Or maybe she doesn't have to. Just make sure when you two arrive that you remember to have on hand on her and the other on the grocery list."

"Ok, got it. Is she really that spontaneous?"

"Trust me."

Liu Kang helped Kitana wash he dishes before settling down to a book before getting ready to leave. At one o'clock he and Liana left for the store while Kitana happily laid down for a nap.

'If he doesn't figure out what happens should he let go, he will.' She thought to herself.

Liu Kang and Liana began to walk the five mile trip to the super market.

"Are we there yet daddy?" Liana asked.

"No sweaty. Not yet." Liu Kang said.

"Are we there now?"

"Not yet."

"What about now?"

"No! Look, I'll let you know when we're there, ok?"

"Ok."

Liu rubbed his temples to try to prevent the headache that threatened his day. They walked for fifteen minutes downhill while Liu held Liana's hand tighter incase she tripped.

"Are we there yet?"

"Liana, what did I tell you fifteen minutes ago?"

"Are we?"

"Yes, finally." He said with a sigh of relief. 'Maybe this won't be so bad.' He thought to himself. He couldn't be more wrong.

Together they walked into the super market as he still held onto his daughter's hand with the same firm grip, remembering his wife's advice. He led her up and down the aisle looking for the first item on the list: bread.

"What are we getting first?" Liana asked.

"First some loafs of bread and then milk."

"Do you know where it is?"

"No."

"Well why don't you ask that man over there?" She said pointing to the man stocking the shelves.

Liu Kang walked up to the man. "Excuse me, which aisles can I find the milk and bread?" He asked.

"That will be aisle twelve, two aisles to your right for the bread, and the milk is in aisle eight, two isles to your left."

"Thank you." He said writing the down the two aisle numbers.

"Excuse me, sir, but didn't you have a little girl with you?" The man asked.

Liu Kang looked to his left where Liana had been. "Oh man. Did you see where she went?"

"I think she went down aisle twelve." The young man said.

Liu Kang ran as fast as he could to aisle twelve. When he arrived, the bread from the shelves had been knocked down. He put the bread back on the shelves and grabbed the five bags e needed.

"Clean up in aisles 12, 19, 8, 7 and 6." A voice announced over the PA.

He ran to seven where he saw her jump over two carts, knocking five cans on the floor.

"Liana come here!" he yelled.

He jumped over the two shopping carts while he heard another announcement.

"Clean up aisle 3."

He caught up with Liana and grabbed her before she could take off again. "Now you listen to me. We are going to grab four jugs of milk and pay for our items and head for home without a sound. Got it?" He said in a stern voice.

Liana bowed her head and nodded. She had to jog to keep up with her father's quick pace. He led her to aisle twelve for the milk. He took two in each hand and handed his daughter the four loafs of bread and walked over to the counter.

"That will be $13.95 sir." The cashier said.

Liu Kang paid the money and handed Liana some bags.

'Now I know why Kitana said hold on to her hand at all costs. At least with her hands full she'll be too busy carrying them to run off.' He thought.


	8. Chapter 8: Never an ordinary visit

As they walked out of the supermarket they passed a fence with a rottweiler. The dog barked madly at them. Liana turned around and stuck her tongue out at the dog.

"Liana don't tease the dog." He warned her.

"But it's fun." She said.

"It's not fun, it's very rude."

Liana whipped around after hearing a loud bang to see the dog had broken through the fence and was growling loudly at them.

"Uh, daddy," Liana said nervously tugging at her father's pants.

"What is it now?" He said turning around to face the rottweiler. "Hold on to me tight Liana." He said quickly putting her on his back.

He ran for two blocks at his fastest pace. 'This dog won't give up until he's had one of us for lunch.' He thought.

He stopped and put his daughter on her feet. "Stay here." He walked up to the dog who was still charging at them.

He put his fist in a ball and threw his arm back and slammed his fist into the dogs side shoulder. The blow forced the dog back onto his side. The dog got back up, not hurt by Liu's gentle blow, and charged at him again. Liu threw a fire ball at the ground causing the dog to jump backwards. The owner who was trying to catch up to her dog after he broke through the fence waved a newspaper threateningly at Liu Kang. He picked Liana up once again and ran home. When they rushed into the front door he quickly slammed the door behind him.

"Honey, I've made a decision. We're getting a dishwasher and a new car!"

Kitana walked into the entrance way. "What happened to you two? You look like you just out ran a whole supermarket. She knelt down and began to fix Liana's now frizzled hair. "And are you two out of breath?"

"Daddy and I went for a run!" Liana said.

"Oh really, did you have fun?" kitana asked.

"Yeah lots! I want to go with daddy again!"

"Well how about you go upstairs and fix your hair while I fix you lunch?"

"Ok!" Liana ran upstairs.

Kitana turned to her husband. "So what really happened?"

"I'll tell you later when Liana's been put to bed." He said walking into the kitchen.

Kitana shook her head in confusion. A part of her didn't want to know why. Somehow she knew she'd prefer the lie that her daughter told her. When she had made Liana lunch she sat down on the couch and grabbed her favourite book. All was quiet for five minutes before Raiden appeared on the couch beside her.

"That's a good book. I've read it." He said looking over her shoulder.

She gasped when she noticed the thunder god beside her. "Raiden, how many times do I have to warn you not to do that?"

"I lost count after twenty." He said.

Kitana hit Raiden across the head lightly with her book.

"And I thought you said you were going to stop hitting me with things?"

"I lied." She said getting up to put her book away.

Liu Kang came running into the living room to see what had scared his wife half to death. "Kitana, what is it…oh, it's just you, Raiden."

Raiden frowned. "What do you mean it's just me?" You say that like I'm any other mortal."

"Well you are like everyone else. I thought it was something important worth running from the kitchen." Liu Kang said.

"Hey I am someone important. Why without me, you mortals would have been destroyed years ago in the mortal kombat tournament."

"Yes, Raiden, and we're all very thankful for all you've done, but you're appearances, well…they've become expected over the years." Kitana said.

"Well what do you expect me to do? Use the door?" Raiden said.

"That would be nice." Kitana said.

Liu laughed slightly. "So what are you doing here, Raiden?"

Raiden cheered up a little at being noticed by more than just his arrival. "I'm lonely."

Liu raised an eyebrow. "_You're _lonely?" He said skeptically.

"In other words Raiden's bored." Kitana said.

"I'll have you know I have plenty of things to do. I'm just not in the mood to do them right now, that's all." Raiden said.

"Right so you come here in hopes that we would keep you company?"

"No. I wanted to see what you warriors were up to?"

"What about the others?" Kitana asked.

"Johnny and Sonya aren't home, and Kung Lao is about to come over."

"How do you know? They haven't called yet." Kitana said.

Raiden turned to Liu and silently counted down with his fingers. Three, two, one.

Suddenly the phone rang. Kitana raised an eye brow at the thunder god. She picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Kitana, it's Kung Lao."

"Oh, hi, what's up?"

Raiden turned to Liu. "See? I told you."

Kitana only glared at Raiden.

"I need to talk to you about something, but I want to come over and talk to you guys."

"Ok, when can we expect you?"

"I'll be coming over in half an hour."

"Sounds great, I'll see you then."

She hung up the phone and turned to Raiden. "Now how would you know that?" She asked.

"Well…" He said looking up. "I happened to drop by, although I don't know what he wants to talk about."

"Oh, so you'll com over here and bug us but won't see what's going on in his life?"

"I'll find out eventually." He said disappearing in a flash of light.

"He's right you know." Liu said.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"So what did Kung Lao say?"

I'm not sure. He said he wanted to come over and talk about it."

"I hope it's nothing serious."

Liana came running into the room. "Was anyone here?"

"Yes Raiden was here." Kitana said.

"Aw! I always miss him!" Liana pouted.

"I'm sure you'll see him again. He'll probably come back very soon." Liu Kang said.

"Can I go play with Amanda?" Liana asked.

"Yes but be back by four please." Kitana said.

"Ok!" Liana said running out the door.

Liu Kang cleaned up the house before Kung Lao arrived, going up and down the stairs moving Liana's toys from the living room to her room. He just put the last toy he tripped over away when he had heard Kitana greet Kung Lao. He came downstairs to find them seated in the kitchen.


	9. Chapter 9: Decision, decisions

"Hello Liu." Kung Lao said getting up. He shook his friend's hand.

"How are things going?" Liu Kang asked.

"Oh things are going pretty well. In fact, couldn't be better." He said shrugging.

"But…?" Liu Kang asked.

"But I'm unsure of something. Well me and Rebecca so to speak."

Liu sat down and listened carefully. Kung Lao took a deep breath.

"Well Rebecca and I have been married for two years now as you already know."

Liu and Kitana nodded their heads. They allowed him to carry on.

"It's just that…that Rebecca, well…"

"Take your time." Kitana said patiently.

"Well she's been making small jokes and talk about having a child and I'm thinking it might be a good idea."

"So what's wrong, Kung Lao?" Kitana asked.

"Well I don't' know if I'm ready for it, and I'm not sure how to talk tot her about starting a family. How did you two discuss it? That's why I came over."

Kitana and Liu looked at each other.

"Well," Kitana began, "Liu and I had always wanted a family of our own, even before we met. It wasn't until a few years after we got married and organized ourselves that we found something was missing and realized what we wanted: a family."

Kung Lao nodded. "Right, so who first brought it up?"

"I did." Liu said. "I just blurted it out one evening at dinner."

"And the strange thing is I have to normally I have to drag things out of him."

Liu rolled his eyes. "And then we both decided we wanted a child or two and after that, well you can guess after awhile all hell broke loose in this house. I think I barely made out of it alive, ow!"

Kitana kicked him hard in the shin.

"That hurt! Well it's true. It _was_ hard to be in the same room with you. You know with you ragging hormones."

"Well you didn't make it easier for me during those months either, such as putting Liana's diaper on backwards?"

"One time, ok? I was having an off day."

"I'll say. Anyway, Kung Lao, if this is something that you're serious about, talk to her. I'm sure she's thinking the same thing."

"I guess so." He said shaking.

"And don't be so nervous. Just tell her tonight."

"Why tonight?" He asked.

"Because the sooner the better. Besides, you won't get any sleep if you don't." Kitana said.

Kung Lao looked at Liu who nodded slowly.

"Ok. Thanks you two. But how should I tell her?"

"Practice with us. We'll sit here all day if we have to."

"We will?" Liu asked.

"Yes we will, or else." Kitana said.

Liu's eyes widened. He gulped.

"So start practicing." Kitana said.

Later when Kung Lao arrived home he found Rebecca on the couch.

"Welcome home."

"Thanks."

"So where did you go?"

"I went to visit Kitana and Liu Kang for some advice." He sat down next to her.

"Did you have a nice visit?"

"Yes. It was enjoyable."

She bent her head to the right and stared deep at him as if she were looking to the very depths of his soul.

"What?" He asked flustered.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing really, its' just something's on my mind." He said sitting down.

"What is it?"

"Well," he began, "You know how we've been talking about how nice it might be if we had a child?"

"Yes we even made a joke or two about it."

"Yeah and…and" His hands and voice began to shake. "Well I think we might be ready, you know? I think it would be a good idea."

She laid her on his shoulder. "Hmm, so that's what's been bothering you lately."

'As if you couldn't guess what's wrong.' He thought to himself. The restless nights that cause lack of concentration that caused him to accidentally decapitate a statue with his hat.

"Well I've been thinking about it for awhile now too."

'How had she hid it so well? I become a train wreck and she's as calm as the ocean!' He thought.

"I think it's a good idea. I think we should. It's about time we fill in the empty space in this house and make things more interesting."

"But how..?"

"How could I be so calm while you're a nervous wreck? One, I thought of it before going to bed, and two, I distracted myself with chores."

"I'm glad I wasn't the only one."

"So what did Liu Kang and Kitana have to say?"

"They said to talk to you, and if we we're ready and able to, then we should do it."

Rebecca nodded. "Good advice. Well do you feel better now?" She said snuggling into his arms.

"I feel much better." H e said kissing her head.

"Good. Well now that we've made a decision, I say we should get started soon before we're too old."

"Is that an invitation?"

"It could be but I'm too comfortable and tired right now to move a muscle."

"Then allow me." He said scooping her into his arms.

"You know I _can walk,_ and I was planning to."

"No, no. I don't mind."

"What a gentleman." She said leaning her head against his chest. "Speaking of children, I told Sonya and Johnny that we would baby sit Sebastian for a few hours."

"I thought they sent him to their parent's while they were gone?"

"They did, but they'll need some time to clean up the house and they have some errands to run."

"Gee, thanks hon."

"Don't worry it'll be good practice for you."

Kung Lao carried her upstairs and into the bedroom where he laid her gently on the bed. Her arms remained wrapped onto his shoulders and she had no intention to let go whether he liked it or not. This was a night neither of them would regret.

"I thought you were tired?"

"I am." She said kissing him.


	10. Chapter 10: Babysitter for a day

The next day Liu Kang and Kung Lao spent the day trying to teach their class a special technique called the windmill kick. Luckily this class was more skilled and disciplined than the first class. Kung Lao saw Raiden appear and lightly tapped Liu on the shoulder. He turned to see Raiden approaching them.

"Alright class! Take a five minute break!" Liu Kang said.

"Welcome master Raiden. Are you here to monitor the class?" Kung Lao asked.

"You'd _want _that wouldn't you? Not after first monsters. Anyway, I came here to give you a message, or rather a reminder Kung Lao."

"What is it?" Kung Lao asked.

"Rebecca asked me to remind you that you're to help take care of Sebastian while she makes dinner."

Kung Lao slapped his forehead. "That's right! I almost forgot! How'd she know I would?"

"One she knows you, and two, she must be psychic." Raiden said.

"How would you know?" Liu asked.

"You didn't think I would learn nothing after knowing Sonya and Kitana for so long?" Raiden said.

"Good point." Liu said.

Raiden turned his attention to the students. "So this is your class? They seem more promising than the last."

"Yes by a lot, thankfully." Kung Lao said.

"I wonder if I do it maybe they can…"Raiden began but was cut off by Liu Kang.

"Don't even think about it, Raiden." He said.

Raiden turned innocently to him. "What?"

"You know what. You're not doing the same thing you did last time."

"It was just a friendly game of dodge the lightning bolt." He said.

"A friendly game, you almost fried the first class!" Kung Lao said.

"Well they deserved it! Someone threw a steel toe shoe so I thought with that kind of aim they would at least have the decent reflex."

"Apparently not because your lightnings bolt almost hit two people." Kung Lao said.

"I did aim to miss."

"Well you didn't aim very well." Liu Kang said.

"Alright, moving on, you won't forget, right Kung Lao?" Raiden asked.

Kung Lao nodded. "I won't, I promise."

"Good because Rebecca seems to be in a bad mood lately."

"It wasn't me. I didn't get her into a bad mood." Kung Lao said.

"Well you can deal with it because when I agreed to become protector of Earthrealm, I didn't agree to have mortals scold at me or push me around." He disappeared in a flash of light.

"He's right though. She has been in a bad mood ever since she woke up." Kung Lao said.

"So why do I have this feeling it's something I've dealt with before?

"Let's finish up the day. We still have twenty minutes left."

The class was dismissed at three o'clock and Kung Lao didn't get home until three thirty. He walked inside too find all was quiet. That still didn't stop him from letting his guard down. For all he knew Sebastian could come running from a corner any second. He walked into the living room where Rebecca greeted him.

"Welcome home." She said hugging him. "Did you have a good day?"

"Yes it went well thank you." He looked around the room cautiously.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just wondering where Sebastian is incase he attempts a surprise attack.

Rebecca laughed. "You shaolin monks don't let your guard down for a second do you?"

"We can't, or else an enemy may attack us from behind, such as a young boy."

She led him towards the sliding glass door in the kitchen where he could see Sebastian kicking the ball high in the air and catching it. He saw Kung Lao and threw his ball on the ground and ran to him. Rebecca had to open the sliding glass door so he wouldn't run face first into the door.

"Uncle Kung Lao!" He said lunging at him.

Kung Lao caught him half surprised. "How are you Sebastian?"

"I'm great! Aunty Rebecca's been playing with me all day! But I wanna do something with you now!" He said with a wide smile on his face.

"Good. While you two play I'll prepare dinner."

"What are we having?" Kung Lao asked.

"We're having roast tonight. Sonya called before you got home. They're going to be a little late. They won't be picking Sebastian up until eight o'clock."

"That's fine. I'm going to take Sebastian to the park."

"Be back by six."

Kung Lao waved his hand as he and Sebastian walked out of the door.

It took them ten minutes to reach the park. It would have taken five minutes if Sebastian hadn't chased every rabbit he saw.

"I wanna play on the swing!" Sebastian said running to the lowest seat he could reach.

"Do you want me to push you?"

"Yes!"

"Ok here we go." Kung Lao gently pushed Sebastian from behind.

The child howled with laughter with every push that only took him up to Kung Lao's knees.

"Faster!" Sebastian yelled.

Kung Lao pushed him up to his knees. Sebastian laughed louder. Kung Lao couldn't help but grin at the young boy. Sebastian turned to his left and saw another rabbit.

"Bunny!" He jumping off the swing and ran the fastest he could trying to catch the fleeing hare.

Sebastian come back…" He grunted in pain and crouched low as the swing hit him in the groin.

He tried to stand up but it was difficult with the throbbing pain. He managed to shake it off after a moment and caught Sebastian before he could chase the hare into the prickly bush.

"Don't ever run off like that again ok? Something bad could have happened to you."

"Ok." Sebastian said.

"Now let's go over to the slides, ok?"

For the next half hour Kung Lao watched Sebastian go down the slide trying to forget about the pain in his groin.

'Now t his is something I can handle' He thought calmly to himself. He let his mind wander for a few minutes before realizing that it was ten to six. He gasped as he ran over to the slide.

"Sebastian! It's time to go!" He called.

"Aw can't I slide down one more time?" Sebastian whined.

"Now we're gong to be late now let's go please."

"Ok." He said as he dragged his feet over to Kung Lao.

Together they sped walked home. Sebastian didn't have a choice in the matter. He had to in order to walk beside Kung Lao. They arrived home five minutes past six.

"What took you two so long?" Rebecca asked.

"Well to be honest we lost track of time. We went from the swings to the slides, and one thing led to another."

Rebecca smiled as she attended back to the food in the kitchen. Kung Lao got Sebastian to help him set the table before sitting down for dinner. Kung Lao winced slightly as he sat down.

"What's wrong, Kung Lao?" Rebecca asked.

"Oh it's nothing. I just strained a muscle, that's all." He replied, which was only half of the truth.


	11. Chapter 11: Solving a mystery

They had finished dinner and had the dishes cleaned by seven o'clock. By eight they were all resting half asleep on the couch when the door bell rang.

"That must be them." Kung Lao said getting up.

Rebecca followed him to the door where they greeted Johnny and Sonya.

"Hey guys. I hope he didn't cause too much trouble." Johnny said.

"Nope he was very well behaved and full of life." Kung Lao said.

"That's good. According to my mom and dad he can be a little on the crazy side." Johnny said.

"And god forbid should he be just like his father." Sonya said sarcastically.

"Did you have a rough trip home, Sonya?" Rebecca asked.

"You could say that. That is if you call sunglass boy over here being a smart ass the entire trip home."

"Oh come on, Sonya, it was just a little joke." Johnny said.

"You made a comment about the plane while we were in the air."

"I made a small comment."

"While everyone, including the stewardess', and the pilot were listening. Everyone was staring."

"There was only a little bit of silence." Johnny replied.

"Yeah they were silent for the rest of the two hour flight. That doesn't sound small to me. Anyway," Sonya said shaking her head, "Thanks for watching him for us. We really appreciate it and so does Johnny's parents. They just exhausted from their own trip and mine are out of town."

"It was our pleasure. We had fun, all of us." Rebecca said.

"I had loads of fun!" Sebastian said squeezing between Rebecca and Kung Lao.

"Ready to go big guy" Johnny asked.

"Yes!" Sebastian said. "Can Uncle Kung Lao and Aunty Rebecca take care of me next time?"

Kung Lao smiled.

"Sure they can bud, if they don't mind doing it again." Johnny said accompanying his son to the car.

"Thanks again you two. We owe you one." Sonya said.

"No worries. Feel free to call us anytime." Rebecca said waving goodbye. She closed the door when they drove off. "Well that was quite an eventful day, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes I agree. That Sebastian can be a handful sometimes." Kung Lao said.

"Are you sure you're ok? You looked really sore when you sat down."

"I will be in the morning. I'm going to out back to train."

"You're going to train in the dark?"

"Yes. Somehow I know I'll need it." He said walking off.

While practicing his katas, Kung Lao thoughts drifted back to Raiden's words earlier. 'Has she really been in that bad of a mood lately?' he thought to himself. He hadn't noticed, at least not too recently. If she had, it just seemed normal to him, as it happened to everyone, but what if Raiden was right? He shook the thoughts from his mind and began to meditate. He would wait before making any accusations.

Within the next few weeks Kung Lao would find out that Raiden's words were true. Little by little he noticed his wife a little more aggravated on some days, and it wasn't pms. He decided to bring it up with Liu while he was being driven home.

"Thanks for giving me a ride home, Liu." Kung Lao said.

"It's my pleasure. Kitana's gone to pick up Liana from school anyways."

"How's Liana doing?"

"She's doing great. She's a smart little girl who's excelling at school. Not to mention she has a lot of talent, especially in martial arts."

"That's not surprising. With two martial art parents, how can she not? Have that many years passed already?"

"I guess so. Sebastian's growing up too."

"Speaking of which, I need to task you something. Have you noticed lately that Rebecca's been a little more aggravated than usual?"

"A little, why do you ask?" He asked keeping his eyes on the road.

"Well I keep remembering what Raiden said and I think he may be right."

"I told you so." Raiden said suddenly appearing.

Liu looked in is rear view mirror to see the thunder god in the back seat. He gasped as he slammed down hard on the breaks. Kung Lao had to hold onto the handles above him even though he was wearing his seat belt.

"Sorry about that Kung Lao. Raiden did you just appear?" Liu Kang asked.

"Apparently he did." Kung Lao replied.

"I thought I'd drop in. I didn't mean to frighten you two. I just thought I'd suggest to Kung Lao he stop by a drug store and pick up a pregnancy test."

"Raiden…" Liu Kang said.

"Well it's worth a shot." Raiden said. "And you'll certainly get your answer."

"It's worth trying, if you don't mind, Liu."

"No I don't. Rebecca isn't expecting you any time soon is she?"

"No."

"Are you sure, Kung Lao?" Raiden asked.

"Yes, Raiden, I'm sure."

"Good." He said sounding quite relieved.

The three men remained silent for the rest of the trip to the drug store. Liu Kang found a free parking space and park the car in the store lot. All three stepped out.

"Raiden, you're coming to?" Liu Kang asked.

"Of course I am. I want to tag along and see how it all ends."

Together the three men walked into the drug store. Kung Lao had to leave his hat in the car. All through the store people stared at Raiden's odd and peculiarly look. No one could blame them, of course. Raiden stood out like a sore thumb with his white hair and eyes, his clothes, and his hat. A young boy stared wide eyed at him.

Raiden turned around. "What is it with you mortals?"

"Come on, Raiden." Liu Kang said.

They continued to walk on.

"Mommy can I get a straw hat like that man?" The young boy asked to his mother.

Kung Lao had to hold his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

"You think that's funny? I'll have you mortals know that people used to wear this all the time back in my days."

"Sorry to say this Raiden but not many people wear it anymore." Kung Lao said.

"Look I found the boxes." Liu Kang said pointing to the far aisle to their left.

"Ok, Kung Lao, choose one." Raiden said.

"Which box thought?" Kung Lao asked confused.

"Any I guess. Who knew there was such a variety?" Liu Kang said.

"How about this one, it looks good." Raiden said handing the box to Kung Lao.

"Is it accurate?" Kung Lao asked.

"I don't know I just liked the colours." Raiden said.

"As long as it works, it's fine by me." Kung Lao said walking to the cash register.

"Liu Kang and Raiden followed. The cashier smiled as Kung Lao approached.

'Too bad for her he's taken.' Liu Kang thought to himself.

She frowned slightly when she saw Kung Lao hand her the pregnancy test. "Is this for your girlfriend?" She asked.

"No it's for my wife." Kung Lao said.

"Oh." She said in a low tone as she displayed the total. "That will be $5.50."

Kung Lao handed her the money as Liu and Raiden chuckled to themselves. The cashier gave him back his change and the left the store.

"What are you two chuckling about?" He asked.

"Nothing, my friend, trust me, you wouldn't get it even if we explained it to you." Liu Kang said.

Kung Lao looked at Raiden who quickly nodded. He shrugged it off and got into the car.

"Show how do you plan on explaining this to Rebecca?" Liu Kang asked.

"I'm not sure," He said putting on his hat. "I'll tell her when I get home."

"And I'll be there later after you've heard the news."

"I thought you were going to stick around and find out, Raiden?" Liu Kang asked.

"And I have stuck around; I just decided that I'll find out later." Raiden disappeared.

"You know sometimes I hate it when he does that." Kung Lao said.

"Yea I agree." Liu Kang said.


	12. Chapter 12: Known but unkown surprise

Liu Kang dropped Kung Lao off and drove off. Kung Lao took a long deep breath and put his hand on the door when Rebecca opened the door and hugged him. He caught her, eyes wide in surprise.

"Hey it's good to see you too. Rebecca, what's with the sneak attack?" He asked.

"Well I'd thought I'd surprise you."

"Well you did a good job." He was thankful she was in a cheerful mood. "Can I come in now?"

"Oh sure you can." She said stepping aside for him to pass. She stopped inside and shut the door behind her.

"Can we sit down for a minute? I need to talk to you."

They walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"So what's up?" She asked.

"Well I, and a few significant others have noticed that you had quite a few more moody days than usual."

Rebecca nodded. "Right and I apologized on those days."

"I know but that's not the point. Do you remember that night a few weeks ago when I carried you up to our bedroom?"

"Yes. I remember it very clearly."

"Well that's when I noticed it started to happen, not that I'm saying it's your fault."

"Ok." She said slowly, slightly confused.

"Well…while Liu was giving me a ride home today, Raiden appeared and suggested I should buy this." He handed her the bag from the drug store.

Rebecca pulled the coloured box out of the bag. "It's a pregnancy test."

"Yeah Raiden said we should give it a shot. I didn't do it to offend your or anything."

"No, no, it's fine. In fact, I've been wondering it myself; I just wasn't sure how to ask you."

"Wow we have to work on asking questions." He said laughing.

Rebecca laughed too. "Yes we do. I'll just take this later." She got up and went upstairs.

'Wow I'm glad that's over.' He thought.

Kung Lao decided to read a book before making dinner tonight. It was his turn, as he and Rebecca decided each would rotate making dinner every three days. This routine came about when they were still newly weds and had a small fight on which of the two would cook that night. Eventually, the contest came down to rock, paper, scissors, to which Kung Lao lost, but both decided to make a chart that would allow both of them to cook evenly every week. This was a good thing considering Rebecca had to get up early for work early in the morning and was too exhausted to cook. At five thirty he began making stir fry when the phone rang. He picked it up quickly.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Kung Lao, it's me Liu."

"Hey, Liu, did you call to see if I'm still alive?"

Liu laughed. "Something like that. How'd she take it?"

"She took it really well. She was in a really cheerful mood."

"That's good to hear."

"You didn't call just because of that, did you?"

"You know me too well. Raiden hasn't dropped by has he?"

"No why do you ask?"

"Well because I know he'll probably drop by, and Kitana's looking for him."

"Why is Kitana looking for him?"

"She wants to give him a scolding after she came home from picking up Liana and found that he had tie dyed a couple of her shirts while she was doing the laundry. I figured it would be better if I asked instead of her." He paused for a moment.

"That thunder god! If I ever see him again I'll kill him!" Kitana yelled in the background.

He continued on. "Of course Liana doesn't have a problem with the colour."

"I'll bet, but if I see Raiden, and I probably will, I'll pass the message on. My guess is that he's avoiding your house because he knows he won't every leave."

"I wouldn't be surprised. I'd better go though. Maybe I can find a sedative for Kitana or something."

"Good luck." Kung Lao said before hanging up.

He nervously began stirring al the meat and vegetables in the hot pan. He accidentally spilled three pieces of vegetables on the ground.

'Dang, come on, Kung Lao, get it together. Don't be so nervous focus.' He thought to himself.

He decided to turn on the radio that was always placed on the kitchen counter top next to the fridge. The music soothed his nerves as he slowly began to relax.

'That's better.' He thought.

When he finished cooking, he covered the pan with a lid and turned the heat on the stove down to low to keep it warm and decided to go upstairs to check on Rebecca.

'I haven't heard from her in awhile. Maybe she's upstairs.'

As he approached the stairs he stopped and listened for any movement. He walked up the stairs slowly and continued to walk quickly to the bedroom. He opened the closed door slowly and poked his head inside. Rebecca was nowhere to be found. Confused, he began to turn when he saw Rebecca out of the corner of his eye. She jumped on his back as he tried not to fall forward on his face.

"Rebecca you scared me again for the second time today." He said.

"Sorry. You know when I get excited I have to express my energy." She said.

"What do you mean excited? I thought you were sleeping?"

"I was for about half an hour then I woke up. Then I remembered the pregnancy test so I decided to take it."

"You did? What did the results say?" He asked nervously.

"Why don't you see for yourself?" She said handing him the test.

He held it up and examined it closely. Inside the two small rectangles was the colour blue. Kung Lao looked at the instructions: pink for negative, blue for positive. He stared at the blue rectangles for a moment before it finally sank in.

His eyes widened. "No way, do you mean?"

"Yes! I'm pregnant." She said squeezing his neck tightly.

For that moment time seemed to stop completely. The words faded in and out of his mind. His mind wandered off for a moment or two before he realized it was caused not just from the news, but from the lack of oxygen to his brain.

"Honey, you're choking me. I can't breath." He said gasping for air.

"Oh I'm sorry!" She said immediately letting go.

"That's ok." He said breathing heavily.

"I can't believe it's true. We're going to be parents!"

"You're telling me." Kung Lao said still staring wide eyed. "Oh man the stir fry!" He said remembering the diner that was still keeping warm. "I forgot I made stir fry for dinner and it's on the stove right now."

"Which reminds; I'm starving!" She said.

"Then let's eat." He said following his wife downstairs.

"Don't forget about tomorrow night." She said.

"I know, dinner at Johnny and Sonya's."


	13. Chapter 13: Dinner at the Cage house

The next evening, Liu Kang, Kitana, Liana, Kung Lao, and Rebecca arrived at the Cage house at six, except for Raiden who was late.

"Where's Raiden?" Sonya asked. "He's the only one who can arrive here in a second and he's late."

"Maybe he's just pacing himself." Johnny said.

"I highly doubt it, Johnny." Sonya said.

"Well who knows? He is a thunder god after all. Maybe he's caught up in something." Johnny said.

"What could possibly be more important than this?" Sonya asked. "He's always late and he's never around when you need him."

Suddenly Raiden appeared looking quite flustered with his hair a little messy and a few food stains on his clothes.

"Raiden, what happened to you? You're a mess!" Johnny said.

"You're late!" Sonya said frustrated.

"My apologies for making you all wait but I had other important matters to deal with." Raiden said.

"What was so important that couldn't wait? You knew ahead of time we were going to have a get together dinner four weeks before Christmas because we don't get to see each other as often!" Sonya said.

"Well if you give me a minute to explain myself you'll know why." Raiden said.

Sonya crossed her arms and sat heavily next to Johnny who quickly moved a few inches closer to Kitana.

"Ahem," He said clearing his throat. "Right before I left to attend to this dinner I was urgently summoned to the Wu Shi academy by one of the monks. Some boy named Kealen had thrown some of his art all over the walls and some of the monks robe's. Not only that, but he was spraying silly string everywhere."

Liu Kang smacked his forehead with his hand in embarrassment. Kitana patted his back in comfort.

"But you see that was only half of what I was told. When I arrived, not only did I find silly string and graffiti everywhere, I also found that all the incense had been knocked over. But if you look on the bright side of things, at least the academy smells nice."

"So what did you do with Kealen?" Kitana asked.

"Well I found him eventually and as punishment, I tied him around the tree in his shorts." Raiden said.

"Raiden, how could you?" Rebecca said appalled.

"It isn't me you should be angry at, it's the boy." Raiden said. "Besides, I untied him after a few hours…" He mumbled to himself.

"Well now that everyone's here I suppose we should start eating." Sonya said walking towards the kitchen.

"Aren't you still upset at me?" Raiden asked cautiously.

"You're off the hook for now." Sonya said.

Johnny followed behind. "Don't look at me, Raiden. I'm not going to interfere after what happened last time. I don't make the same mistakes twice."

Raiden scuffed the floor with his foot in disappointment.

"Oh by the way Raiden," Kitana said hitting him hard in the back of the head.

"Ow!" He said in pain.

"That's for dying Liana's shirts! It took me three hours and five washes to get it out!"

He rubbed the back of his head painfully over the now forming lump.

"You had it coming to you, you know." Liu Kang said walking by.

Kung Lao and Rebecca only shrugged as they passed him.

Sebastian and Liana were already seated and watched as the adults set the table. Kitana began to scoop food on Liana's plate for her while Sebastian made a point of filling his plate before anyone else.

"Are you sure you can eat that all, buddy?" Johnny asked to his son.

"Of course I will!" He said.

"Good. We don't' want mom getting mat at us now do we?" He said winking.

Sebastian nodded his head quickly looking at his mother. Liu help but grin. He knew exactly how they felt. In fact, he did the very same thing with Liana.

"So where's Bo' Rai Cho? Anyone know how he's doing these days?" Raiden asked.

"Master Bo' Rai Cho has other plans for the evening, but I talked with him a few weeks ago and he said he's busy training and visiting old friends." Liu Kang said.

"So, Liu, are you and Kung Lao on Christmas holidays yet?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah it started two weeks ago." Liu Kang said.

"And it's just what Kung Lao needed too." Rebecca said.

"I haven't needed it badly; I've just been under a little stress." Kung Lao said.

"So are you going to tell everyone the good news?" Rebecca asked Kung Lao.

"Why should I be to the one to tell them? Kung Lao protested.

"What good news?" Sonya asked looking at Kitana and Liu.

Liu Kang shook his head while Kitana shrugged.

"Why don't you tell them, Rebecca?" Kung Lao said softly taking her hand.

"Tell us what?" Johnny asked confused.

Raiden sat more upright in his chair and leaned closer as a wide grin began to spread across his face.

"I'm pregnant." Rebecca said.

Johnny and Liu stared in awe as Raiden began to laugh.

"Ha, I was right! Ah I know you mortals all too well." He said.

"Well that makes sense. Raiden probably saw it coming. No wonder I lost twenty dollars to him." Johnny said.

"You two bet against each other in a contest?" Sonya said annoyed.

"Well yeah. We made a bet that if she was pregnant I'd win twenty bucks. If she wasn't, I'd pay him twenty dollars-ow! What did you hit me for?" Johnny said.

"That's for agreeing to a stupid bet against something like this!" Sonya said.

"Ha-ha I saw that coming! Ow! That's twice you've hit me today, Sonya. I thought you said I was off the hook?" Raiden said

"Correction, you _were_ off the hook, but that was for making the stupid bet, now pay Raiden, Johnny, please." Sonya said.

Johnny shakily threw the twenty dollar bill over the table to Raiden who put it in his pocket. Kung Lao chuckled slightly.

"So are we going to eat dinner in peace or show the children another fine example of how to hit your spouse?" Kitana said.

The room went silent as everyone turned their attention to Liana and Sebastian who were grinning from ear to ear and suddenly burst out laughing. Soon everyone joined in on the laughter, and even shed a few tears from laughing so hard.

"That was awesome!" Sebastian said.

"Don't ever do it, Seb." Johnny said.

"Why? Is it because girls are scary?" Sebastian asked.

"That and it's not nice." Johnny said looking at Sonya who was too busy wiping her eyes to notice.


	14. Chapter 14: Charades and twister

"I just realized I'm going to have to put up with a cranky wife for nine months." Kung Lao said.

"Now you'll know how we feel." Johnny and Liu said in unison.

"By the way, when did you two find out?" Sonya asked.

"We found out just yesterday actually." Rebecca said.

"Yes after you scared me half to death." Kung Lao said.

"Oh you had fun, admit it." Rebecca said.

"So now that we're caught up on everyone's lives, what do you say we play a game of charades after dinner?" Johnny suggested.

"I'm in, but this time no zapping Raiden." Kung Lao said.

"Well the point of charades is to act, and I was to act out static electricity, so I did." Raiden said.

"Yes and you did it by zapping me." Kung Lao said remembering after the shock his short hair stood straight out, giving him spikes the whole night, not to mention the shock he received from ever electrical outlet he touched.

After finishing dinner and loading the dishes in the stainless steel dishwasher, Sonya took out the dusty box of charades. She organized the pieces and the rule book which she had added to for safety measures for Raiden and placed it on the coffee table and began writing on the piece of paper.

"What are you doing now?" Raiden asked her.

"Adding one more rule. There, it's finished. I don't think I need to add anything more, right?" She asked looking over her shoulder as everyone shook their heads.

"No I think e covered everything from the last twenty other games." Johnny said.

"Good," She said getting up.

"Humph I hope so." Raiden said looking at the rule number twenty five which stated in bold capital letters, **NO ZAPPING!**

"Ok let's get started by choosing teams." Sonya said.

Johnny brought out an old used hat with nine pieces of paper with team one and team two written on it. Everyone grabbed a piece.

The teams were eventually decided. Liu Kang, Kitana, Raiden and Liana on team one, and Kung Lao, Rebecca, Sebastian, Johnny and Sonya on team two. Team one lost to team two in a contest of rock, paper, scissors. Rebecca went first setting the timer and picking up a card. She stared at it in confusion.

"What's wrong?" Kung Lao.

"I'm just not sure how to act this one out. Oh well, here goes nothing." She said beginning to act out the word. She moved from side to side moving her arms in and out as she did in a rhythm.

Kung Lao and Johnny stared at her in confusion as they tried to figure out the action.

"I have no idea, what about you, Seb?" Johnny asked.

"I don't know either. I don't get it at all." Sebastian said.

"What do you think, Kung Lao?" Johnny asked.

"Hmm I'm not too sure either…is it water?" He said.

"Yes you're right!" Rebecca said.

"How in the world did you manage to guess that?" Johnny asked.

"Well at the Wu Shi academy we teach those kinds of movement to the students to help gain energy for striking. It also reminded of the flow of water, as we also use that as examples in our teachings." Kung Lao said.

"Ok." Johnny said slowly lifting an eyebrow.

"Ok now one of you four goes next." Rebecca said.

"Alright I'll go next." Raiden said. He picked up the piece of paper and read it thoroughly several times. A wide grin spread across his face. He pointed his index finger towards Liu as a tiny ball of electricity formed on the tip. He slowly advanced towards Liu Kang.

"Raiden," He warned, "Don't you dare shock me."

Raiden curled his index finger into his hand. "Five points for us." He said sitting down.

"What?" Liu asked.

"My card said shock and it wouldn't work if I tried to sneak up behind you because you knew I was here so I pretended to attempt to shock you, despite your silly rules. Mind you I have abided by all of them." He said looking at Sonya.

"And only you get the cards that somehow involve electricity. Anyway, who wants to go next?" Sonya asked.

"I'll go." Johnny said getting up. He chose a card and smiled. 'This will be a breeze.' He thought to himself. He stood in one of his infamous pictures poses his wife and son knew all too well.

"Dad's a movie star!" Sebastian said.

"Nice one buddy." Johnny said ruffling his son's hair.

"These cards are too easy. Are you sure this isn't charades for kids?" Raiden asked.

"We only have one box of charades, Raiden." Johnny said.

"Maybe it's because we've acted out almost every card in the game." Kitana said.

The room was silent for a few minutes before Johnny broke silence.

"Wow we need to find a new game to play…how about monopoly" Johnny asked.

"No!" Everyone cried in unison, causing Johnny to jump.

"Every time we've played monopoly you had the most money and no matter how many times we borrowed money from you we were always broke." Rebecca said.

"It's a lost cause." Sonya said.

"Fine, anyone else have any suggestions?" Johnny asked.

"I know!" Sebastian said running upstairs to his room. He came running downstairs with a large rectangle white box labeled Twister. He brought it in the living room for everyone to see.

"Oh man." Liu Kang said.

"Interesting choice…" Kitana said.

"I haven't played this game in ages!" Raiden said.

"Anyone feeling flexible" Sonya asked.

"Why not, I could use a little more flexibility." Kung Lao said getting up.

Charades was put away and twister was set up. Sebastian and Liana volunteered to take turns with the spinner. They howled with laughter as they watched the adults groan in pain as they stretched across one another.

"Put you're right foot on the blue." Sebastian called.

"Oh you've got to be kidding. I can't reach from here without stepping over Sonya." Johnny said.

"Speak for yourself." Sonya said who was trapped under Raiden's leg.

"Sorry Sonya." Johnny said moving his right leg over Sonya's body so that his back was over Sonya's torso.

"Don't you dare fall on me, Johnny Cage!" Sonya said.

"I'll try not to." He said trying to keep his shaking body up.

Eventually both of the games ended in a tie, and both Sebastian and Liana got to stay up past nine o'clock. At ten everyone helped clean up and said their goodbyes and headed home to sleep in a boring Sunday.


	15. Chapter 15: As time goes on

**A/N: Another chapter up! I got busy and lost a page I wrote but this new one is better so I'm glad you've enjoyed reading! ) New chapter to come soon, and hopefully not as long of a wait! Also, the website wouldn't allow me to post this new chapter so there was a few days delay. I made several time jumps in this chapter. It's rather predictable of Kung Lao's son's name, but I thought I'd carry on the family name :p.**

The months flew by for Kung Lao and Rebecca as she soon went into labor. Kung Lao spent the day with her trying to not cry out in agony as she held a death grip on his hand. After two hours of hard labor, Kung Lao and Rebecca's son was born. Kung Lao was required by the doctors to get his hand x-rayed, amazed at his wife's grip. Luckily Rebecca had only bruised his hand. They decided to name their child after Kung Lao's great ancestor and brought him home after three days.

Several years passed as Sonya and Johnny decided to have another child. Sonya gave birth to another baby boy, making her the only woman in the house. They named him Nathan. Kung Lao and Rebecca also decided to have another child. They had a daughter named Cassandra. Sebastian and Liana were now teenagers, Liana being 15, and Sebastian 14.

All was almost well at the Cage house. Sebastian and Nathan were having their usual sibling fight over who should clean up the mess in the kitchen, which was giving Sonya an unwanted head ache. It was times like this where she wished Johnny would come home early from his job.

"I'm not cleaning up the mess!" Sebastian yelled.

"Why should I clean it up? You're the one that made it in the first place!" Nathan yelled back.

"And you caused the rest! Besides, what would you know, you're only eight!" Sebastian said.

"I'm old enough to know I shouldn't have to clean it up alone! You should help!"

"No, Nathan!"

Sonya sat in the living room on the couch with a book in her lap rubbing her throbbing temples.

"I'm telling mom!" Nathan threatened.

'Ugh, can't you two give it a rest?' She thought to herself. "What?" She said annoyed.

"Sebastian caused a mess and he won't clean it up!" Nathan said.

"So did you!" Sebastian said back.

"Alright, alright, that's it! I've had it with you two bickering! Sebastian, Nathan, since both of you made the mess; the two of you should clean it up. And Sebastian, I want you to help this time. No more fighting, got it? I want that kitchen to sparkle!" Sonya ordered.

The two moped back into the kitchen, still arguing under their breaths.

'Finally I can get some peace and quite.' She thought as she opened her book.

Fifteen minutes later Johnny came bounding through the door.

"Guess what, Sonya? My new movie, Warrior Hero's 2 – The Next Generation was a huge success!" He said ecstatically.

"That's great, Johnny." Sonya said putting her book down.

He sat down next to her. "So how was your day?"

Sonya sighed heavily. "I've had better days to be honest with you."

"I'm sorry. Were the kids fighting again?"

"They're always fighting, you know that. It's simply because we thought how nice it would be to have another child." Sonya said.

"Well it's worth it n the long run, isn't it?" Johnny asked.

"You mean the day they get old enough to move out?"

"Johnny, the only thing they'll grow into at the moment is feisty fighting kids who'll kill each other if I don't keep a close eye on them."

"But Sebastian's a teenager now, there's six year between the two."

"Johnny, you should know that age doesn't make too much of a difference, not to mention they're siblings. They'll always find something to fight about."

"That is true. I guess I forgot about that factor. Besides, my sister is only a few years younger than me and we never fought much, even when we were kids."

"That's because you two were too different. While she played with her dolls and friends, you were looking at yourself in the mirror and doing whatever it took to impress the young girls."

Johnny smiled at the memory. Although Sonya's comment came across as an insult, it was also true.

"I just hope Kung Lao and Rebecca are having better luck than us with their two kids. Kitana and Liu Kang were smart to stick with one child." Sonya said.

Kung Lao and Rebecca weren't having much luck with their two children. Rebecca had just broken up a fight between young Kung Lao and Cassandra. She walked towards the front door, hoping to leave without being interrupted by her husband. She was slightly disappointed to find him on the couch reading one of his favourite books. He looked up. "Where are you off to, Rebecca/" He asked.

"I'm off to the grocery store for a little bit." She said trying to be brief.

"Need help?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright, see you in a bit."

Rebecca turned around to suddenly come face to face with Raiden.

"Raiden, what do you want? Wait; get out of the way, please!"

"Why are you in such a hurry?" He asked crossing his arms.

"I need to go to the store to get some food for a small barbecue being held just outside the Wu Shi academy."

"Yes Liu Kang informed me a few days ago asking me to come to his event of yours. And if you really are in such a hurry, then why don't you just leave?" Raiden said.

"Because one, you're blocking the only front door and two, someone decided to read his favourite book, The Da Vinci Code in one sitting while barraging me with questions."

"I'm on page 440." Kung Lao said.

Rebecca attempted to walk to the side of the thunder god but he mirrored her steps, intentionally preventing her from leaving at all."

"Raiden, come on!" Rebecca said frustrated.

The thunder god chuckled as he stepped aside for Rebecca to pass. Kung Lao looked up from his book after he hard the door safely shut.

"So what excuse do you have for being here this time? Loneliness, boredom, or are you merely here to keep me company?"

"Not this time, Kung Lao. I just feel like pulling some of my favourite mortal's chains, that's all. And Kung Lao, you're it."

"Great." Kung Lao said sarcastically.

"I thought you might like it."

"So why don't' you bug Sonya, Johnny, or Liu Kang, even Kitana? Why does it have to be me?"

"Well to be honest, Kitana has her fans, Liu's having a bad day, Sonya has p.m.s and a gun, and Johnny's too scared to interfere with any fights with her."

"I can't imagine why. So you came here to make my day miserable in hopes to balance this all out?"

"You got it."

"So then go bug my kids, I'm sure they'd love to play with you."

"Not a chance. Between your son's uncanny talents and a one hit shot accuracy, and your daughter's devious mind, I'd probably be demoted from a thunder god to looking after your kids."

Kung Lao laughed. "Sounds like a fair punishment."

"To you this is funny, but I'm quite serious. By the way, where are they?"

"The last I heard between the screams of those two, I'd say they're still outside."

"Good. The last time I dropped by just in time to get a red ball in the face."

"Well you did appear in the back yard, Raiden. Besides, you're a god. You should have lightning reflexes."

"That's an overstatement." Raiden said trying to hide his embarrassment of being caught off guard by a nine year old.

He gazed over at Kung Lao's book. "Haven't you finished that book before?" Raiden asked.

"Yes but I like it. It's a very good book."

"So it's a book with a murder mystery two people must solve that are lead around by clues left behind by the detective's grandfather involving Da Vinci. I bet if there was a book published about the mortal kombat tournament, it would be better."

"Johnny's made several movies on it remember? All of which were big hits."

"Yeah well the book would be much better." Raiden said stubbornly.

Kung Lao sighed as he closed his book. "So are you just going to stand around insulting my book?"

"No. I've had my fun for today."

"So why don't you annoy Fujin or any other of the gods? It would have saved you the time and effort."

"Ah but they're no fun except for Fujin. But he can be annoying at times."

'But of course. Better to annoy the one's you're counting on to save the earth from total destruction than to stress those who aren't involved in the war of the realms.' Kung Lao thought to himself.

He shook his head in confusion. If there was ever a need for a distraction, now would be the perfect time. Luckily for Kung Lao, time was on his side today as both his son and his daughter came sprinting down the stairs shoving each other.


	16. Chapter 16: Nothing like a barbeque

"Dad Kung Lao keeps stealing my stuff!" Cassandra whined loudly.

"No I don't! Why would I want your stupid stuff?" Young Kung Lao said as a toy dropped from his jacket.

"See?" She said angrily.

"Alright you two that's enough. You two have been fighting for most of the day and it's driving your mother crazy. Now make up. Kung Lao, stop stealing Cassandra's things or else I'll hide some of your things. Now, is there anything else you two need?"

"Yes. Can I go to play with Jessie?" Cassandra asked.

"Yes if it's ok with her parents, so call first."

"Ok." Cassandra said running into the kitchen.

"Kids, they'll always find something to fight about." Raiden said.

"You said it, Raiden." Kung Lao said.

"Well if she can go out and play then I want to too! I want to hang out with Ryan."

"Fine but be back by dinner."

Kung Lao turned his head to face Raiden's, but found he was gone.

'Why does he always leave at the heated fights and hides while the rest of us suffer? Oh well, at least Rebecca will be glad to have some peace and quite for once.'

The next evening….

"Come on you two, we're going to be late!" Rebecca called to her two children.

"I'll take the food and wait in the car." Kung Lao said.

"Thanks, hon." Rebecca said. "Hurry up you two!"

"We're coming!" Young Kung Lao and Cassandra yelled in unison as they sprinted down the stairs.

"Honestly, what took you guys so long?" Rebecca asked.

"I couldn't find my jacket." Young Kung Lao said.

"And I couldn't find my hair tie." Cassandra said.

Rebecca sighed as she opened the front door. She quickly locked it and ran to the car.

"Ready?" Kung Lao asked.

"Yes let' get going." Rebecca said.

The family of four left and arrived just as the Cage family did. The children ran out and greeted each other with great enthusiasm. They ran over to sit down at the table. Liana and Sebastian walked calmly over and sat down across from each other. The adults grabbed the accessories and put them neatly on the ground while Raiden simply set up the barbeque by throwing it on the grass standing up.

"Raiden if you keep setting the barbeque up like that you're gong to break it. Luckily for you it's not mine." Johnny warned the thunder god.

"Johnny, trust me, I'm a god. I know what I'm doing. I'll get this hunk of metal fired up in a flash." Raiden said having quickly and surprisingly set the barbeque up. "Do me a favour and hand me the bag of coal and lighter fluid, will you?"

Johnny handed Raiden the can and bag. "So do you know how much of that stuff you should use?"

"Of course I know how much to use." He said pouring nearly half of the bag of coal. "I've done this before…once."

"Once, that's all?" Johnny asked surprised.

"Well it's not difficult you know. All you do is pour a heap of coal on, and then add a bunch of lighter fluid and viola; you've got yourself a bon fire."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Johnny said shaking his head. "Let me know how big the smoke signal is when you're done."

"Funny, Johnny. I've never seen you light a barbeque yet."

'That's because I don't need search and rescue to come and put out a barbeque.' He thought.

"Johnny, are you and Raiden fighting again?" Sonya asked.

"Hey I'm just looking out for everyone here. Raiden's lighting a barbeque for the second time."

"So?" Sonya asked.

"Well just look at him. He looks like a pyro maniac. Not to mention he's using half a can of lighter fluid. I say we keep search and rescue on speed dial."

"Hmm you're right. You might want to keep the fire station on speed dial when the little bon fire erupts into a forest fire." Sonya said chuckling.

Everyone who caught the remark couldn't help but laugh. Although they had known the thunder god for years, not one of them had ever actually seen Raiden light a barbeque before. In fact the only one to bear witness to that event was Fujin, the god of wind, whose face was slightly covered in soot and his white eyebrows turned brown from the blaze.

They all stared closely at the freshly lit match. Johnny had his hand in his pocket ready to whip out his cell phone in a flash while the children were ready to duck underneath the table. Their eyes followed the match as Raiden let it drop loosely from his finger tips. They followed it down as the barbeque came to life in a burst of flame.

Raiden turned to his mortals. "Now that wasn't so scary, was it?"

Everyone shrugged their shoulders in agreement.

"Well shall we get everything else set up?" Rebecca said changing the subject.

Within twenty minutes everything was set up. Raiden cooked the steaks with Johnny closely supervising from behind.

Kung Lao and Liu Kang prepared the vegetables and salad while Rebecca, Sonya and Kitana talked.

"So how are those steaks going, Johnny?" Liu Kang asked.

"So far everything's good. The meats not burning and there's no chemical explosion. Raiden's actually a really good cook. Go figure." Johnny said.

"Four steaks are done!" Raiden yelled flipping the four steaks in the air.

"What?" Johnny asked confused. E looked up at the four steaks over top his head. His eyes widened in shock. "Whoa!" He quickly grabbed a large serving plate and managed to catch all four steaks.

"Good reflexes." Raiden said.

"Raiden are you crazy? I could've dropped all four steaks!" Johnny yelled.

"Ah but you didn't, did you? You see I knew you wouldn't." Raiden said confidently.

"Still, we only brought enough steaks for everyone." Johnny said.

Raiden shrugged as he turned around and threw the remaining seven steaks on.

"Honestly, I swear those two love pulling each others chain. They're like two children." Sonya said.

"That's because Raiden is a child. He's just a very, very old child. How old is he anyway?" Rebecca asked.

"Hmm I think over a thousand years." Sonya said.

"I think it's beyond that. He has to be over that. It has been many years since the least invasion, thankfully." Kitana said.

"Yeah you're right. Johnny's not any better. Sometimes I feel as if I have three children in the house instead two." Sonya said.

"And at those times it's only one mature adult, right?" Rebecca asked.

"Yeah, that's exactly what it feels like." Sonya said.

"Tell me about it. Kung Lao can be the same way." Rebecca said.

"It's the same with Liu. I guess all men are like this." Kitana said. "After all, I remember my father was the same way."

"Do you hear those women talking about us like that?" Kung Lao said.

"Yes I do. Let's just act like we don't hear it. I don't want to start a fight now or I'll never make it home alive." Liu Kang said.


	17. Chapter 17: The end of a new beginning

**Well this is the final chapter of my story. It took me awhile but I did it! First I would like to thank everyone who took the time to review and also to those who enjoyed my story. I'm glad that I could provide some humour in your lives and I appreciate the comments because it let me know that I wrote something funny! ) I hope to write more stories, and perhaps my next one will be in the Naruto section. Thanks for the support guys! You rock!**

A half hour later the food was fully cooked and ready to eat. Everyone except for Liana and Sebastian sat down. The two teenagers joined them shortly after.

Johnny leaned closely over to Sonya. "Those two have spent quite a lot of time together today. What do you thing they're up to?" He whispered into her ear.

"I don't' know but don't' bring it up, Johnny. You'll only make things worse." Sonya said.

"I'm not allowed to know what my son's intentions are with Liu and Kitana's daughter."

"If you do you'll embarrass your son so much he'll want to crawly into a hole and die. Or are you forgetting what that felt like?"

Johnny frowned at the memory of slight embarrassment of his sister bringing up the news of his first girlfriend. He pushed the memory away. He looked over to see his son and Liana talking. He looked over at Liu and saw that he too was staring at the teenagers.

"So, Kung Lao, how did your evening go last night?" Johnny asked.

"Fine, except for a small, but brief visit from Raiden, again." Kung Lao said.

"Hey it was a friendly visit." Raiden said.

"I suppose so. For once your visit had humor and was somewhat enjoyable. Too bad you missed it, Rebecca. It would have brightened your day." Kung Lao said.

"Don't worry, the drive did." Rebecca said.

From a distance a monk could be seen walking towards the group, carrying a rolled up piece of paper in his hand.

"Hey, Liu, look." Kung Lao said pointing to the man.

Liu turned to see the man at a half jog. "Now what would he be doing here? I hope it's not an emergency." He said.

"He's probably coming to tell you that a monk quit because of those brats and now you're stuck with them." Raiden said laughing.

"Careful, Raiden, you may have to assist them." Kitana said.

"Don't make me laugh. I'm a god. Such a task doesn't need my assistance." Raiden said.

"Funny, that's exactly what you said last time." Sonya said.

"Liu Kang, Kung Lao, I'm sorry to bother you at such a time but I have a message for you." The monk said.

Kung Lao took the parcel from the man and read it carefully and grinned.

"What is it?" Liu Kang asked.

"You won't believe this. Well it's tough luck for you thunder god because you're right." Kung Lao handed Liu the paper.

"Unbelievable. We're stuck with them again!" Liu said.

"You monks need to find a routine because it obviously isn't working, especially with those brats." Raiden said.

The monk knelt down on one knee. "Which is why, lord Raiden, we need your help. We need the assistance of a god."

"You're kidding, right?" Perhaps you failed to notice the nature of those children." Raiden said.

"We have, it's just you're the only ones who can teach them."

"The man has a point." Sonya said.

"How long must we teach them?" Liu asked.

"You only need to teach them for six months. The last monk lasted three months. He wasn't quite the same after." The monk said.

"I can't imagine why." Raiden mumbled under his breath.

Liu Kang turned to Kung Lao. "Well do you think we can last six more months?"

"I suppose we could, if we did a little extra meditation." Kung Lao said.

"Is this merely to get them to a higher belt?" Liu Kang asked.

"Oh heaven no, it's to graduate them so they can leave the academy."

Raiden burst out laughing. "Well what do you know? Even the monks want the brats gone."

"Very well, we'll start next week." Liu Kang said.

Excellent! Thank you very much you two. We're very grateful." The monk left the group to their meal.

"You need a week to prepare?" Kitana asked.

"Something like that." Liu Kang said.

"Dad, these kids can't be _that_ bad, can they/" Liana asked.

"More than you know, Liana. I'll tell you all about them later." Her father said.

The barbeque carried late into the evening when the group had to leave. They bid farewell to each other and headed home.

"I can't believe I agreed to that." Liu Kang said as he crawled into bed exhausted.

"You did the right thing." Kitana said.

"I find that hard to believe, but Kung Lao and I are doing the monks a big favour."

"Exactly, and think of it this way; after six months you'll never have to teach them ever again."

"Hmm that's true." He slightly smiled at the thought.

"Do you need my help to make you feel better?" She said wrapping her arms around him.

"Perhaps, but now I would love to sleep."

"Same." She said laying her head on his shoulder.

"At least things can't get worse."

"Not exactly, well so to speak."

"What do you mean?"

"Liana told me Sebastian asked her out earlier today."

Liu shot straight up. "What? Why didn't you tell me?"

Because I didn't want you to worry like you're doing now."

"I'm not worrying! I just want to talk to this boy first."

"Don't worry." Kitana said reassured him. "Sebastian's a nice boy and she'll be fine. Just be supportive and go to sleep."

As he laid his head down he imagined dealing with his new students and his daughter's boyfriend. Indeed, this would be another challenge for the two shaolin monks Liu Kang and Kung Lao. The End.


End file.
